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Pretty  Goldilocks. 


PRETTY    GOLDILOCKS 

AND  OTHER  STORIES 

FROM  THE  FAIRY  BOOKS 
EDITED    BY 

ANDREW   LANG 
ii 


WITH    A    COLOURED    FRONTISPIECE    AND 
NUMEROUS   ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

HENRY  J.   FORD 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO. 

91  AND  93  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 

LONDON  AND  BOMBAY 

1906 

All  rights  reserved 


Reprinted  by  permission 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
Longmans,  Green,  &  Co. 


CONTENTS 


434599 


PA 


PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS        .            ,  .  .  -9 

THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  THREE  FATES  .  .  .37 

THE  THREE  LITTLE  PIGS            *  .  .  .57 

HEART  OF  ICE    .             .             .  .  .  .68 

THE  ENCHANTED  RING  .  *  .  .  .130 

THE  SNUFF-BOX                .             .  ,  .  .145 

THE  GOLDEN  BLACKBIRD  .  .  .  .156 

THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  Puss  IN  BOOTS.  .  .166 

THE  MAGIC  SWAN          .  .  .  .  .177 

THE  DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS  ,  186 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

COLOURED  PLATE 

PACK 

The  Princess  and  the  Snake  .  .  .     Frontispiece 

FULL-PAGE  PLATES 

He  saw  one  of  the  Dragons  with  fire  blazing  from  his  mouth  and 

eyes        .  .  .  .  .  1  .  .29 

She  opened  the  window  and  glided  away  in  the  air          .  .      73 

Gorgonzola  flies  off  on  her  Dragon  .  .  .  .97 

The  eldest  Fairy  consulted  her  Book  of  Magic     .  .  .103 

The  Dirty  Shepherdess        .  .  ...  .189 

IN  THE  TEXT 

He  sat  down  under  a  willow  tree    .            •           4           .  .15 

He  begged  her  to  accept  the  scarf  and  tiny  dog  .            .  .20 

With  her  own  hands  took  off  Charraing's  chains  .            .  .35 

The  pool  in  the  sand            .                         .            *            .  .55 

The  three  little  pigs             .           ...           .           .  .57 

Carried  her  off  to  his  den    .        '   •»       •     -»            •            .  .63 

Blacky  popped  the  lid  on    .           .           »..,-,        .  .66 

Here  is  the  list         .           .           .           .;         ,            .  .      79 

Mannikin  set  to  work  to  release  them        .            »   ? '       .  .83 

Mannikin  pinned  him  to  the  sand  with  his  spear  .            .  .     107 

In  the  last  of  these  sat  the  Ambassador    .            .            .  .113 

Unhorsed  many  of  them     .            .            .            .            .  .119 

The  Ice  Palace         . 125 

The  young  man  understood  that  a  fairy  was  speaking  to  him  .     132 

The  enchanted  ring 143 


viii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACK 

What  do  you  want?  ,  .  .     146 

What  are  you  doing  here  ?  .       -'..  ,  .  .  .  .     160 

They  set  out  all  together     .        ;  v  .  .  .  .163 

I  have  brought  you,  sir,  a  rabbit    .  '     »  .  •    •  -         .     168 

To  my  Lord  Marquis  of  Carabas  !.  .  .  .  .172 

Puss  came  down,  and  owned  he  had  been  very  much  frightened    174 

Puss  became  a  great  lord    .            •  .  .  .  .     176 

Swan,  hold  fast !       .  .     .  .  .183 


PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

ONCE  upon  a  time  there  was  a  princess  who  was 
the  prettiest  creature  in  the  world.  And  because 
she  was  so  beautiful,  and  because  her  hair  was 
like  the  finest  gold,  and  waved  and  rippled  nearly 
to  the  ground,  she  was  called  Pretty  Goldilocks. 
She  always  wore  a  crown  of  flowers,  and  her 
dresses  were  embroidered  with  diamonds  and 
pearls,  and  everybody  who  saw  her  fell  in  love 
with  her. 

Now  one  of  her  neighbours  was  a  young  king 
who  was  not  married.  He  was  very  rich  and 
handsome,  and  when  he  heard  all  that  was  said 
about  Pretty  Goldilocks,  though  he  had  never 
seen  her,  he  fell  so  deeply  in  love  with  her  that 
he  could  neither  eat  nor  drink.  So  he  resolved 
to  send  an  ambassador  to  ask  her  in  marriage. 

He  had  a  splendid  carriage  made  for  his 
ambassador,  and  gave  him  more  than  a  hundred 
horses  and  a  hundred  servants,  and  told  him  to 


10  PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS 

be  sure  to  .bring  the  Princess  back  with  him. 
After  he  had  started  nothing  else  was  talked  of 
at  Court*  and  the  King  felt  so  sure  that  the 
Princess  would  consent  that  he  set  his  people  to 
work  at  pretty  dresses  and  splendid  furniture, 
that  they  might  be  ready  by  the  time  she  came. 

Meanwhile,  the  ambassador  arrived  at  the 
Princess's  palace  and  delivered  his  little  message, 
but  whether  she  happened  to  be  cross  that  day, 
or  whether  the  compliment  did  not  please  her,  is 
not  known.  She  only  answered  that  she  was 
very  much  obliged  to  the  King,  but  she  had  no 
wish  to  be  married. 

The  ambassador  set  off  sadly  on  his  homeward 
way,  bringing  all  the  King's  presents  back  with 
him,  for  the  Princess  was  too  well  brought  up  to 
accept  the  pearls  and  diamonds  when  she  would 
not  accept  the  King,  so  she  had  only  kept  twenty- 
five  English  pins  that  he  might  not  be  vexed. 

When  the  ambassador  reached  the  city,  where 
the  King  was  waiting  impatiently,  everybody  was 
very  much  annoyed  with  him  for  not  bringing 
the  Princess,  and  the  King  cried  like  a  baby,  and 
nobody  could  console  him.  Now  there  was  at 
the  Court  a  young  man,  who  was  more  clever 


PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS  11 

and  handsome  than  anyone  else.  He  was  called 
Charming,  and  everyone  loved  him,  excepting  a 
few  envious  people  who  were  angry  at  his  being 
the  King's  favourite  and  knowing  all  the  State 
secrets.  He  happened  one  day  to  be  with  some 
people  who  were  speaking  of  the  ambassador's 
return  and  saying  that  his  going  to  the  Princess 
had  not  done  much  good,  when  Charming  said 
rashly : 

*  If  the  King  had  sent  me  to  the  Princess 
Goldilocks  I  am  sure  she  would  have  come  back 
with  me. 

His  enemies  at  once  went  to  the  King  and 
said :  *  You  will  hardly  believe,  sire,  what 
Charming  has  the  audacity  to  say — that  if  he 
had  been  sent  to  the  Princess  Goldilocks  she 
would  certainly  have  come  back  with  him.  He 
seems  to  think  that  he  is  so  much  handsomer 
than  you  that  the  Princess  would  have  fallen 
in  love  with  him  and  followed  him  willingly.' 
The  King  was  very  angry  when  he  heard  this. 

'Ha,  ha!'  said  he;  'does  he  laugh  at  my 
unhappiness,  and  think  himself  more  fascinating 
than  I  am  ?  Go,  and  let  him  be  shut  up  in  my 
great  tower  to  die  of  hunger/ 


12  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

So  the  King's  guards  went  to  fetch  Charming, 
who  had  thought  no  more  of  his  rash  speech,  and 
carried  him  off  to  prison  with  great  cruelty. 
The  poor  prisoner  had  only  a  little  straw  for  his 
bed,  and  but  for  a  little  stream  of  water  which 
flowed  through  the  tower  he  would  have  died  of 
thirst. 

One  day  when  he  was  in  despair  he  said  to 
himself : 

'  How  can  I  have  offended  the  King  ?  I  am 
his  most  faithful  subject,  and  have  done  nothing 
against  him.' 

The  King  chanced  to  be  passing  the  tower  and 
recognised  the  voice  of  his  former  favourite.  He 
stopped  to  listen  in  spite  of  Charming's  enemies, 
who  tried  to  persuade  him  to  have  nothing  more 
to  do  with  the  traitor.  But  the  King  said  : 

'  Be  quiet,  I  wish  to  hear  what  he  says.' 

And  then  he  opened  the  tower  door  and 
called  to  Charming,  who  came  very  sadly  and 
kissed  the  King's  hand,  saying : 

'  What  have  I  done,  sire,  to  deserve  this  cruel 
treatment  ? ' 

'You  mocked  me  and  my  ambassador,'  said 
the  King,  'and  you  said  that  if  I  had  sent  you 


PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS  13 

for  the  Princess  Goldilocks  you  would  certainly 
have  brought  her  back.' 

'  It  is  quite  true,  sire,'  replied  Charming ;  '  I 
should  have  drawn  such  a  picture  of  you,  and 
represented  your  good  qualities  in  such  a  way, 
that  I  am  certain  the  Princess  would  have  found 
you  irresistible.  But  I  cannot  see  what  there  is 
in  that  to  make  you  angry.' 

The  King  could  not  see  any  cause  for  anger 
either  when  the  matter  was  presented  to  him 
in  this  light,  and  he  began  to  frown  very  fiercely 
at  the  courtiers  who  had  so  misrepresented  his 
favourite. 

So  he  took  Charming  back  to  the  palace  with 
him,  and  after  seeing  that  he  had  a  very  good 
supper  he  said  to  him : 

'You  know  that  I  love  Pretty  Goldilocks 
as  much  as  ever,  her  refusal  has  not  made  any 
difference  to  me ;  but  I  don't  know  how  to 
make  her  change  her  mind :  I  really  should 
like  to  send  you,  to  see  if  you  can  persuade  her 
to  marry  me.' 

Charming  replied  that  he  was  perfectly 
willing  to  go,  and  would  set  out  the  very 
next  day. 


14  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

'But  you  must  wait  till  I  can  get  a  grand 
escort  for  you,'  said  the  King.  But  Charming 
said  that  he  only  wanted  a  good  horse  to  ride, 
and  the  King,  who  was  delighted  at  his  being 
ready  to  start  so  promptly,  gave  him  letters 
to  the  Princess,  and  bade  him  good  speed.  It 
was  on  a  Monday  morning  that  he  set  out  all 
alone  upon  his  errand,  thinking  of  nothing  but 
how  he  could  persuade  the  Princess  Goldilocks 
to  marry  the  King.  He  had  a  writing-book  in 
his  pocket,  and  whenever  any  happy  thought 
struck  him  he  dismounted  from  his  horse  and 
sat  down  under  the  trees  to  put  it  into  the 
harangue  which  he  was  preparing  for  the  Princess, 
before  he  forgot  it. 

One  day  when  he  had  started  at  the  very 
earliest  dawn,  and  was  riding  over  a  great 
meadow,  he  suddenly  had  a  capital  idea,  and, 
springing  from  his  horse,  he  sat  down  undei 
a  willow  tree  which  grew  by  a  little  river. 
When  he  had  written  it  down  he  was  looking 
round  him,  pleased  to  find  himself  in  such  a 
pretty  place,  when  all  at  once  he  saw  a  great 
golden  carp  lying  gasping  and  exhausted  upon 
the  grass.  In  leaping  after  little  flies  she  had 


PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS 


15 


thrown  herself  high  upon  the  bank,  where  she 
had  lain  till  she  was  nearly  dead.  Charming 
had  pity  upon  her,  and,  though  he  couldn't  help 
thinking  that  she  would  have  been  very  nice 
for  dinner,  he  picked  her  up  gently  and  put 
her  back  into  the  water.  As  soon  as  Dame 


Carp  felt  the  refreshing  coolness  of  the  water 
she  sank  down  joyfully  to  the  bottom  of  the 
river,  then,  swimming  up  to  the  bank  quite  boldly, 
she  said : 

'  I  thank  you,  Charming,  for  the  kindness  you 
have  done  me.  You  have  saved  my  life;  one 
day  I  will  repay  you.'  So  saying,  she  sank  down 


16  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

into  the  water  again,  leaving  Charming  greatly 
astonished  at  her  politeness. 

Another  day,  as  he  journeyed  on,  he  saw  a 
raven  in  great  distress.  The  poor  bird  was 
closely  pursued  by  an  eagle,  which  would  soon 
have  eaten  it  up,  had  not  Charming  quickly 
fitted  an  arrow  to  his  bow  and  shot  the  eagle 
dead.  The  raven  perched  upon  a  tree  very 
joyfully. 

'Charming,'  said  he,  'it  is  very  generous  of 
you  to  rescue  a  poor  raven :  I  am  not  ungrateful, 
some  day  I  will  repay  you.' 

Charming  thought  it  was  very  nice  of  the 
raven  to  say  so,  and  went  on  his  way. 

Before  the  sun  rose  he  found  himself  in  a 
thick  wood  where  it  was  too  dark  for  him  to 
see  his  path,  and  here  he  heard  an  owl  crying 
as  if  it  were  in  despair. 

*  Hark ! '  said  he,  'that  must  be  an  owl  in  great 
trouble  ;  I  am  sure  it  has  got  into  a  snare ' ;  and 
he  began  to  hunt  about,  and  presently  found 
a  great  net  which  some  bird-catchers  had  spread 
the  night  before. 

'  What  a  pity  it  is  that  men  do  nothing  but 
torment  and  persecute  poor  creatures  which 


PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS  17 

never  do  them  any  harm ! '  said  he,  and  he  took 
out  his  knife  and  cut  the  cords  of  the  net,  and 
the  owl  flitted  away  into  the  darkness,  but  then 
turning,  with  one  flicker  of  her  wings,  she  came 
back  to  Charming  and  said  : 

'It  does  not  need  many  words  to  tell  you 
how  great  a  service  you  have  done  me.  I  was 
caught;  in  a  few  minutes  the  fowlers  would 
have  been  here — without  your  help  I  should 
have  been  killed.  I  am  grateful,  and  one  day 
I  will  repay  you.' 

These  three  adventures  were  the  only  ones 
of  any  consequence  that  befell  Charming  upon  his 
journey,  and  he  made  all  the  haste  he  could  to 
reach  the  palace  of  the  Princess  Goldilocks. 

When  he  arrived  he  thought  everything  he 
saw  delightful  and  magnificent.  Diamonds  were 
as  plentiful  as  pebbles,  and  the  gold  and  silver, 
the  beautiful  dresses,  the  sweetmeats  and  pretty 
things  that  were  everywhere  quite  amazed  him ; 
he  thought  to  himself :  *  If  the  Princess  consents 
to  leave  all  this,  and  come  with  me  to  marry  the 
King,  he  may  think  himself  lucky  1 ' 

Then  he  dressed  himself  carefully  in  rich  bro- 
cade, with  scarlet  and  white  plumes,  and  threw 


18  PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS 

a  splendid  embroidered  scarf  over  his  shoulder, 
and,  looking  as  gay  and  as  graceful  as  possible, 
he  presented  himself  at  the  door  of  the  palace, 
carrying  in  his  arm  a  tiny  pretty  dog  which 
he  had  bought  on  the  way.  The  guards  sa- 
luted him  respectfully,  and  a  messenger  was  sent 
to  the  Princess  to  announce  the  arrival  of 
Charming  as  ambassador  of  her  neighbour  the 
King. 

'Charming,'  said  the  Princess;  *  the  name 
promises  well ;  1  have  no  doubt  that  he  is 
good-looking  and  fascinates  everybody.' 

'  Indeed  he  does,  madam,'  said  all  her  maids  of 
honour  in  one  breath.  '  We  saw  him  from  the 
window  of  the  garret  where  we  were  spinning 
flax,  and  we  could  do  nothing  but  look  at  him  as 
long  as  he  was  in  sight.' 

*  Well  to  be  sure ! '  said  the  Princess,  *  that's 
how  you  amuse  yourselves,  is  it  ?  Looking  at 
strangers  out  of  the  window !  Be  quick  and 
give  me  my  blue  satin  embroidered  dress,  and 
comb  out  my  golden  hair.  Let  somebody  make 
me  fresh  garlands  of  flowers,  and  give  me  my 
high-heeled  shoes  and  my  fan,  and  tell  them  to 
sweep  my  great  hall  and  my  throne,  for  I  want 


PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS  19 

everyone  to  say  I  am  really  "Pretty  Goldi- 
locks." ' 

You  can  imagine  how  all  her  maids  scurried 
this  way  and  that  to  make  the  Princess  ready, 
and  how  in  their  haste  they  knocked  their  heads 
together  and  hindered  each  other,  till  she 
thought  they  would  never  have  done.  How- 
ever, at  last  they  led  her  into  the  gallery  of 
mirrors  that  she  might  assure  herself  that 
nothing  was  lacking  in  her  appearance,  and  then 
she  mounted  her  throne  of  gold,  ebony,  and 
ivory,  while  her  ladies  took  their  guitars  and 
began  to  sing  softly.  Then  Charming  was  led 
in,  and  was  so  struck  with  astonishment  and  ad- 
miration that  at  first  not  a  word  could  he  say. 
But  presently  he  took  courage  and  delivered 
his  harangue,  bravely  ending  by  begging  the 
Princess  to  spare  him  the  disappointment  of 
going  back  without  her. 

'  Sir  Charming,'  answered  she,  '  all  the  reasons 
you  have  given  me  are  very  good  ones,  and  I 
assure  you  that  I  should  have  more  pleasure  in 
obliging  you  than  anyone  else,  but  you  must 
know  that  a  month  ago  as  I  was  walking  by  the 
river  with  my  ladies  1  took  off  my  glove,  and  as 


20  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

I  did  so  a  ring  that  I  was  wearing  slipped  off 
my  finger  and  rolled  into  the  water.  As  I 
valued  it  more  than  my  kingdom,  you  may 
imagine  how  vexed  I  was  at  losing  it,  and  I 
vowed  never  to  listen  to  any  proposal  of  mar- 
riage unless  the  ambassador  first  brought  me 


back  my  ring.  So  now  you  know  what  is 
expected  of  you,  for  if  you  talked  for  fifteen 
days  and  fifteen  nights  you  could  not  make  me 
change  my  mind.' 

Charming  was  very  much  surprised  by  this 
answer,  but  he  bowed  low  to  the  Princess,  and 


PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS  21 

begged  her  to  accept  the  embroidered  scarf  and 
the  tiny  dog  he  had  brought  with  him.  But  she 
answered  that  she  did  not  want  any  presents, 
and  that  he  was  to  remember  what  she  had  just 
told  him.  When  he  got  back  to  his  lodging  he 
went  to  bed  without  eating  any  supper,  and  his 
little  dog,  who  was  called  Frisk,  couldn't  eat  any 
either,  but  came  and  lay  down  close  to  him.  All 
night  long  Charming  sighed  and  lamented. 

*  How  am  I  to  find  a  ring  that  fell  into  the 
river  a  month  ago  ? '  said  he.  *  It  is  useless  to 
try ;  the  Princess  must  have  told  me  to  do  it  on 
purpose,  knowing  it  was  impossible.'  And  then 
he  sighed  again. 

Frisk  heard  him  and  said  : 

'  My  dear  master,  don't  despair ;  the  luck  may 
change  ;  you  are  too  good  not  to  be  happy.  Let 
us  go  down  to  the  river  as  soon  as  it  is  light.' 

But  Charming  only  gave  him  two  little  pats 
and  said  nothing,  and  very  soon  he  fell  asleep. 

At  the  first  glimmer  of  dawn  Frisk  began  to 
jump  about,  and  when  he  had  waked  Charming 
they  went  out  together,  first  into  the  garden, 
and  then  down  to  the  river's  brink,  where  they 
wandered  up  and  down.  Charming  was  thinking 


22  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

sadly  of  having  to  go  back  unsuccessful  when  he 
heard  someone  calling :  '  Charming,  Charming ! ' 
He  looked  all  about  him  and  thought  he  must 
be  dreaming,  as  he  could  not  see  anybody.  Then 
he  walked  on  and  the  voice  called  again: 
*  Charming,  Charming  ! ' 

'  Who  calls  me  ? '  said  he.  Frisk,  who  was 
very  small  and  could  look  closely  into  the  water, 
cried  out :  *  1  see  a  golden  carp  coming.'  And 
sure  enough  there  was  the  great  carp,  who  said 
to  Charming : 

'You  saved  my  life  in  the  meadow  by  the 
willow  tree,  and  I  promised  that  I  would  repay 
you.  Take  this  ;  it  is  Princess  Goldilocks'  ring.' 
Charming  took  the  ring  out  of  Dame  Carp's 
mouth,  thanking  her  a  thousand  times,  and  he 
and  tiny  Frisk  went  straight  to  the  palace, 
where  someone  told  the  Princess  that  he  was 
asking  to  see  her. 

'  Ah !  poor  fellow,'  said  she,  '  he  must  have 
come  to  say  good-bye,  rinding  it  impossible  to  do 
as  I  asked.' 

So  in  came  Charming,  who  presented  her  with 
the  ring  and  said  : 

*  Madam,  I  have  done  your  bidding.     Will  it 


PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS  23 

please  you  to  marry  my  master?'  When  the 
Princess  saw  her  ring  brought  back  to  her 
unhurt  she  was  so  astonished  that  she  thought 
she  must  be  dreaming. 

*  Truly,  Charming,'  said  she,  *  you  must  be  the 
favourite  of  some  fairy,  or  you  could  never  have 
found  it.' 

'Madam/  answered  he,   'I    was   helped  by 
nothing  but  my  desire  to  obey  your  wishes.' 

*  Since  you  are  so  kind,'  said  she,  '  perhaps  you 
will  do  me  another  service,  for  till  it  is  done  1 
will  never  be  married.     There  is  a  prince  not  far 
from  here  whose  name  is  Galifron,  who  once 
wanted  to  marry  me,  but  when  I  refused  he 
uttered  the  most  terrible  threats  against  me,  and 
vowed  that  he  would  lay  waste  my  country. 
But  what  could  I  do?    I  could  not  many  a 
frightful  giant  as  tall  as  a  tower,  who  eats  up 
people  as  a  monkey  eats  chestnuts,  and  who 
talks  so  loud  that  anybody  who  has  to  listen 
to  him  becomes  quite  deaf.    Nevertheless,  he 
does  not  cease  to  persecute  me  and  to  kill  my 
subjects.     So  before  I  can  listen  to  your  pro- 
posal  you   must    kill    him    and   bring   me  his 
head.' 


24  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

Charming  was  rather  dismayed  at  this  com- 
mand, but  he  answered : 

'  Very  well,  Princess,  I  will  fight  this  Galifron ; 
I  believe  that  he  will  kill  me,  but  at  any  rate 
I  shall  die  in  your  defence.' 

Then  the  Princess  was  frightened  and  said 
everything  she  could  think  of  to  prevent  Charm- 
ing from  fighting  the  giant,  but  it  was  of  no 
use,  and  he  went  out  to  arm  himself  suitably, 
and  then,  taking  little  Frisk  with  him,  he 
mounted  his  horse  and  set  out  for  Galifron's 
country.  Everyone  he  met  told  him  what  a 
terrible  giant  Galifron  was,  and  that  nobody 
dared  go  near  him ;  and  the  more  he  heard  the 
more  frightened  he  grew.  Frisk  tried  to  en- 
courage him  by  saying : 

'While  you  are  fighting  the  giant,  dear 
master,  I  will  go  and  bite  his  heels,  and  when 
he  stoops  down  to  look  at  me  you  can  kill 
him.' 

Charming  praised  his  little  dog's  plan,  but 
knew  that  his  help  would  not  do  much 
good. 

At  last  he  drew  near  the  giant's  castle,  and  saw 
to  his  horror  that  every  path  that  led  to  it 


PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS  25 

was  strewn  with  bones.  Before  long  he  saw 
Galifron  coming.  His  head  was  higher  than  the 
tallest  trees,  and  he  sang  in  a  terrible  voice  : 

'  Bring  out  your  little  boys  and  girls, 
Pray  do  not  stay  to  do  their  curls, 
For  I  shall  eat  so  very  many, 
I  shall  not  know  if  they  have  any.' 

Thereupon  Charming  sang  out  as  loud  as  he 
could  to  the  same  tune : 

'  Come  out  and  meet  the  valiant  Charming, 
Who  finds  you  not  at  all  alarming ; 
Although  he  is  not  very  tall, 
He's  big  enough  to  make  you  fall.' 

The  rhymes  were  not  very  correct,  but  you 
see  he  had  made  them  up  so  quickly  that  it  is  a 
miracle  that  they  were  not  worse  ;  especially  as 
he  was  horribly  frightened  all  the  time.  When 
Galifron  heard  these  words  he  looked  all  about 
him,  and  saw  Charming  standing,  sword  in  hand  ; 
this  put  the  giant  into  a  terrible  rage,  and  he 
aimed  a  blow  at  Charming  with  his  huge  iron 
club,  which  would  certainly  have  killed  him  if 
it  had  reached  him,  but  at  that  instant  a  raven 
perched  upon  the  giant's  head,  and,  pecking  with 


26  PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS 

its  strong  beak  and  beating  with  its  great  wings, 
so  confused  and  blinded  him  that  all  his  blows  fell 
harmlessly  upon  the  air,  and  Charming,  rushing 
in,  gave  him  several  strokes  with  his  sharp  sword 
so  that  he  fell  to  the  ground.  Whereupon 
Charming  cut  off  his  head  before  he  knew  any- 
thing about  it,  and  the  raven  from  a  tree  close 
by  croaked  out : 

'  You  see  I  have  not  forgotten  the  good  turn 
you  did  me  in  killing  the  eagle.  To-day  I  think 
I  have  fulfilled  my  promise  of  repaying  you.' 

*  Indeed,  I  owe  you  more  gratitude  than  you 
ever  owed  me/  replied  Charming. 

And  then  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  off 
with  Galifron's  head. 

When  he  reached  the  city  the  people  ran  after 
him  in  crowds,  crying : 

'  Behold  the  brave  Charming,  who  has  killed 
the  giant ! '  And  their  shouts  reached  the  Prin- 
cess's ear,  but  she  dared  not  ask  what  was  hap- 
pening, for  fear  she  should  hear  that  Charming 
had  been  killed.  But  very  soon  he  arrived  at 
the  palace  with  the  giant's  head,  of  which  she 
was  still  terrified,  though  it  could  no  longer  do 
her  any  harm. 


PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS  27 

*  Princess,'  said  Charming,  *  I  have  killed  your 
enemy ;  1  hope  you  will  now  consent  to  marry 
the  King  my  master.' 

'Oh,  dear!  no,'  said  the  Princess,  'not  until 
you  have  brought  me  some  water  from  the 
Gloomy  Cavern. 

'  Not  far  from  here  there  is  a  deep  cave,  the 
entrance  to  which  is  guarded  by  two  dragons 
with  fiery  eyes,  who  will  not  allow  anyone  to 
pass  them.  When  you  get  into  the  cavern  you 
will  find  an  immense  hole,  which  you  must  go 
down,  and  it  is  full  of  toads  and  snakes ;  at  the 
bottom  of  this  hole  there  is  another  little  cave, 
in  which  rises  the  Fountain  of  Health  and 
Beauty.  It  is  some  of  this  water  that  I  really 
must  have :  everything  it  touches  becomes  won- 
derful. The  beautiful  things  will  always  remain 
beautiful,  and  the  ugly  things  become  lovely. 
If  one  is  young  one  never  grows  old,  and  if  one 
is  old  one  becomes  young.  You  see,  Charming, 
I  could  not  leave  my  kingdom  without  taking 
some  of  it  with  me.' 

'Princess,'  said  he,  'you  at  least  can  never 
need  this  water,  but  I  am  an  unhappy  ambas- 
sador, whose  death  you  desire.  Where  you  send 


28  PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS 

me  I  will  go,  though  I  know  I  shall  never 
return.' 

And,  as  the  Princess  Goldilocks  showed  no 
sign  of  relenting,  he  started  with  his  little  dog 
for  the  Gloomy  Cavern.  Everyone  he  met  on 
the  way  said : 

'What  a  pity  that  a  handsome  young  man 
should  throw  away  his  life  so  carelessly !  He 
is  going  to  the  cavern  alone,  though  if  he  had 
a  hundred  men  with  him  he  could  not  suc- 
ceed. Why  does  the  Princess  ask  impossi- 
bilities ? ' 

Charming  said  nothing,  but  he  was  very  sad. 
When  he  was  near  the  top  of  a  hill  he  dis- 
mounted to  let  his  horse  graze,  while  Frisk 
amused  himself  by  chasing  flies.  Charming 
knew  he  could  not  be  far  from  the  Gloomy 
Cavern,  and  on  looking  about  him  he  saw  a 
black  hideous  rock  from  which  came  a  thick 
smoke,  followed  in  a  moment  by  one  of  the 
dragons  with  fire  blazing  from  his  mouth  and 
eyes.  His  body  was  yellow  and  green,  and  his 
claws  scarlet,  and  his  tail  was  so  long  that  it  lay 
in  a  hundred  coils.  Frisk  was  so  terrified  at  the 
sight  of  it  that  he  did  not  know  where  to  hide. 


He  saw  one  of  the  Dragons  with  fire  blazing  from 
his  mouth  and  eyes 


PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS  31 

Charming,  quite  determined  to  get  the  water  or 
die,  now  drew  his  sword,  and,  taking  the  crystal 
flask  which  pretty  Goldilocks  had  given  him  to 
fill,  said  to  Frisk : 

*  I  feel  sure  that  I  shall  never  come  back  from 
this  expedition;   when   I  am  dead,  go  to  the 
Princess  and  tell  her  that  her  errand  has  cost  me 
my  life.     Then  find  the  King  my  master,  and 
relate  all  my  adventures  to  him.' 

As  he  spoke  he  heard  a  voice  calling : 
*  Charming,  Charming  1' 

'  Who  calls  me  ? '  said  he ;  then  he  saw  an  owl 
sitting  in  a  hollow  tree,  who  said  to  him : 

*  You  saved  my  life  when  I  was  caught  in  the 
net,  now  I  can  repay  you.     Trust  me  with  the 
flask,  for  I  know  all  the  ways  of  the  Gloomy 
Cavern,  and  can  fill  it  from  the  Fountain  of 
Beauty.'     Charming  was  only  too  glad  to  give 
her  the  flask,  and  she  flitted  into  the  cavern 
quite  unnoticed  by  the  dragon,  and  after  some 
time  returned  with  the  flask,  filled  to  the  very 
brim  with  sparkling  water.     Charming  thanked 
her  with  all  his  heart,  and  joyfully  hastened  back 
to  the  town. 

He  went  straight  to  the  palace  and  gave  the 


32  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

flask  to  the  Princess,  who  had  no  further  objec- 
tion to  make.  So  she  thanked  Charming,  and 
ordered  that  preparations  should  be  made  for  her 
departure,  and  they  soon  set  out  together.  The 
Princess  found  Charming  such  an  agreeable  com- 
panion that  she  sometimes  said  to  him  : 

'  Why  didn't  we  stay  where  we  were  ?  I  could 
have  made  you  king,  and  we  should  have  been  so 
happy ! ' 

But  Charming  only  answered  : 

*  I  could  not  have  done  anything  that  would 
have  vexed  my  master  so  much,  even  for  a  king- 
dom, or  to  please  you,  though  I  think  you  are  as 
beautiful  as  the  sun.' 

At  last  they  reached  the  King's  great  city,  and 
he  came  out  to  meet  the  Princess,  bringing  mag- 
nificent presents,  and  the  marriage  was  celebrated 
with  great  rejoicings.  But  Goldilocks  was  so 
fond  of  Charming  that  she  could  not  be  happy 
unless  he  was  near  her,  and  she  was  always  sing- 
ing his  praises. 

'  If  it  hadn't  been  for  Charming,'  she  said  to 
the  King,  '  I  should  never  have  come  here ;  you 
ought  to  be  very  much  obliged  to  him,  for  he 
did  the  most  impossible  things  and  got  me  water 


PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS  33 

from  the  Fountain  of  Beauty,  so  I  can  never 
grow  old,  and  shall  get  prettier  every  year.' 

Then  Charming's  enemies  said  to  the  King : 

'  It  is  a  wonder  that  you  are  not  jealous,  the 
Queen  thinks  there  is  nobody  in  the  world  like 
Charming.  As  if  anybody  you  had  sent  could 
not  have  done  just  as  much  ! ' 

*  It  is  quite  true,  now  I  come  to  think  of  it/ 
said  the  King.  '  Let  him  be  chained  hand  and 
foot,  and  thrown  into  the  tower.' 

So  they  took  Charming,  and  as  a  reward  for 
having  served  the  King  so  faithfully  he  was  shut 
up  in  the  tower,  where  he  only  saw  the  gaoler, 
who  brought  him  a  piece  of  black  bread  and  a 
pitcher  of  water  every  day. 

However,  little  Frisk  came  to  console  him,  and 
told  him  all  the  news. 

When  Pretty  Goldilocks  heard  what  had  hap- 
pened she  threw  herself  at  the  King's  feet  and 
begged  him  to  set  Charming  free,  but  the  more 
she  cried  the  more  angry  he  was,  and  at  last  she 
saw  that  it  was  useless  to  say  any  more  ;  but  it 
made  her  very  sad.  Then  the  King  took  it  in 
his  head  that  perhaps  he  was  not  handsome 
enough  to  please  the  Princess  Goldilocks,  and  he 


34  PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS 

thought  he  would  bathe  his  face  with  the  water 
from  the  Fountain  of  Beauty,  which  was  in  the 
flask  on  a  shelf  in  the  Princess's  room,  where  she 
had  placed  it  that  she  might  see  it  often.  Now 
it  happened  that  one  of  the  Princess's  ladies  in 
chasing  a  spider  had  knocked  the  flask  on0  the 
shelf  and  broken  it,  and  every  drop  of  the  water 
had  been  spilt.  Not  knowing  what  to  do,  she 
had  hastily  swept  away  the  pieces  of  crystal,  and 
then  remembered  that  in  the  King's  room  she 
had  seen  a  flask  of  exactly  the  same  shape,  also 
filled  with  sparkling  water.  So,  without  saying 
a  word,  she  fetched  it  and  stood  it  upon  the 
Queen's  shelf. 

Now  the  water  in  this  flask  was  what  was  used 
in  the  kingdom  for  getting  rid  of  troublesome 
people.  Instead  of  having  their  heads  cut  off  in 
the  usual  way,  their  faces  were  bathed  with  the 
water,  and  they  instantly  fell  asleep  and  never 
woke  up  any  more.  So,  when  the  King,  think- 
ing to  improve  his  beauty,  took  the  flask  and 
sprinkled  the  water  upon  his  face,  he  fell  asleep, 
and  nobody  could  wake  him. 

Little  Frisk  was  the  first  to  hear  the  news, 
and  he  ran  to  tell  Charming,  who  sent  him  to 


PRETTY  GOLDILOCKS  35 

beg  the  Princess  not  to  forget  the  poor  prisoner. 
All  the  palace  was  in  confusion  on  account  of 
the  King's  death,  but  tiny  Frisk  made  his  way 
through  the  crowd  to  the  Princess's  side,  and 
said : 

'  Madam,  do  not  forget  poor  Charming ! ' 
Then  she  remembered  all  he  had  done  for  her, 


and  without  saying  a  word  to  anyone  went 
straight  to  the  tower,  and  with  her  own  hands 
took  off  Charming's  chains.  Then,  putting  a 
golden  crown  upon  his  head,  and  the  royal 
mantle  upon  his  shoulders,  she  said : 

'  Come,  faithful  Charming,  I  make  you  king, 
and  will  take  you  for  my  husband/ 


36  PRETTY   GOLDILOCKS 

Charming,  once  more  free  and  happy,  fell  at 
her  feet  and  thanked  her  for  her  gracious  words. 

Everybody  was  delighted  that  he  should  be 
king,  and  the  wedding,  which  took  place  at  once, 
was  the  prettiest  that  can  be  imagined,  and 
Prince  Charming  and  Princess  Goldilocks  lived 
happily  ever  after. 


THE   PRINCE   AND  THE 
THREE  FATES1 

ONCE  upon  a  time  a  little  boy  was  born  to  a 
king  who  ruled  over  a  great  country  through 
which  ran  a  wide  river.  The  king  was  nearly 
beside  himself  with  joy,  for  he  had  always 
longed  for  a  son  to  inherit  his  crown,  and  he 
sent  messages  to  beg  all  the  most  powerful 
fairies  to  come  and  see  this  wonderful  baby.  In 
an  hour  or  two,  so  many  were  gathered  round 
the  cradle,  that  the  child  seemed  in  danger  of 
being  smothered  ;  but  the  king,  who  was  watch- 
ing the  fairies  eagerly,  was  disturbed  to  see  them 
looking  grave.  '  Is  there  anything  the  matter  ? ' 
he  asked  anxiously. 

The  fames  looked  at  him,  and  all  shook  their 
heads  at  once. 

*  He  is  a  beautiful  boy,  and  it  is  a  great  pity ; 
but  what  is  to  happen  will  happen,'  said  they. 

1  See  frontispiece. 
P.G.-D  37 


38    THE   PRINCE   AND  THE  THREE   FATES 

*  It  is  written  in  the  book  of  fate  that  he  must 
die,  either  by  a  crocodile,  or  a  serpent,  or  by  a 
dog.  If  we  could  save  him  we  would  ;  but  that 
is  beyond  our  power.' 

And  so  saying  they  vanished. 

For  a  time  the  king  stood  where  he  was,  hor- 
ror-stricken at  what  he  had  heard  ;  but,  being  of 
a  hopeful  nature,  he  began  at  once  to  invent 
plans  to  save  the  prince  from  the  dreadful  doom 
that  awaited  him.  He  instantly  sent  for  his 
master  builder,  and  bade  him  construct  a  strong 
castle  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  which  should  be 
fitted  with  the  most  precious  things  from  the 
king's  own  palace,  and  every  kind  of  toy  a  child 
could  wish  to  play  with.  And,  besides,  he  gave 
the  strictest  orders  that  a  guard  should  walk 
round  the  castle  night  and  day. 

For  four  or  five  years  the  baby  lived  in  the 
castle  alone  with  his  nurses,  taking  his  airings  on 
the  broad  terraces,  which  were  surrounded  by 
walls,  with  a  moat  beneath  them,  and  only  a 
drawbridge  to  connect  them  with  the  outer 
world. 

One  day,  when  the  prince  was  old  enough  to 
run  quite  fast  by  himself,  he  looked  from  the 


THE   PRINCE   AND  THE  THREE  FATES    39 

terrace  across  the  moat,  and  saw  a  little  soft 
fluffy  ball  of  a  dog  jumping  and  playing  on  the 
other  side.  Now,  of  course,  all  dogs  had  been 
kept  from  him  for  fear  that  the  fairies'  prophecy 
should  come  true,  and  he  had  never  even  beheld 
one  before.  So  he  turned  to  the  page  who  was 
walking  behind  him,  and  said  : 

*  What  is  that  funny  little  thing  which  is  run- 
ning so  fast  over  there  ? ' 

*  That  is  a  dog,  prince,'  answered  the  page. 
'Well,  bring  me  one  like  it,  and  we  will  see 

which  can  run  the  faster.'  And  he  watched  the 
dog  till  it  had  disappeared  round  the  corner. 

The  page  was  much  puzzled  to  know  what  to 
do.  He  had  strict  orders  to  refuse  the  prince 
nothing ;  yet  he  remembered  the  prophecy,  and 
felt  that  this  was  a  serious  matter.  At  last  he 
thought  he  had  better  tell  the  king  the  whole 
story,  and  let  him  decide  the  question. 

'  Oh,  get  him  a  dog  if  he  wants  one,'  said  the 
king,  « he  will  only  cry  his  heart  out  if  he  does 
not  have  it.'  So  a  puppy  was  found,  exactly  like 
the  other;  they  might  have  been  twins,  and 
perhaps  they  were. 

Years  went  by,  and  the  boy  and   the   dog 


40    THE   PRINCE   AND  THE  THREE  FATES 

played  together  till  the  boy  grew  tall  and 
strong.  The  time  came  at  last  when  he  sent  a 
message  to  his  father,  saying : 

'  Why  do  you  keep  me  shut  up  here,  doing 
nothing?  I  know  all  about  the  prophecy  that 
was  made  at  my  birth,  but  I  would  far  rather  be 
killed  at  once  than  live  an  idle,  useless  life  here. 
So  give  me  arms,  and  let  me  go,  I  pray  you ;  me 
and  my  dog  too.' 

And  again  the  king  listened  to  his  wishes,  and 
he  and  his  dog  were  carried  in  a  ship  to  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  which  was  so  broad  here  it 
might  almost  have  been  the  sea.  A  black  horse 
was  waiting  for  him,  tied  to  a  tree,  and  he 
mounted  and  rode  away  wherever  his  fancy  took 
him,  the  dog  always  at  his  heels.  Never  was 
any  prince  so  happy  as  he,  and  he  rode  and  rode 
till  at  length  he  came  to  a  king's  palace. 

The  king  who  lived  in  it  did  not  care  about 
looking  after  his  country,  and  seeing  that  his 
people  lived  cheerful  and  contented  lives.  He 
spent  his  whole  time  in  making  riddles,  and  in- 
venting plans  which  he  had  much  better  have  let 
alone.  At  the  period  when  the  young  prince 
reached  the  kingdom  he  had  just  completed  a 


THE   PRINCE   AND   THE   THREE   FATES    41 

wonderful  house  for  his  only  child,  a  daughter. 
It  had  seventy  windows,  each  seventy  feet  from 
the  ground,  and  he  had  sent  the  royal  herald 
round  the  borders  of  the  neighbouring  kingdoms 
to  proclaim  that  whoever  could  climb  up  the 
walls  to  the  window  of  the  princess  should  win 
her  for  his  wife. 

The  fame  of  the  princess's  beauty  had  spread 
far  and  wide,  and  there  was  no  lack  of  princes 
who  wished  to  try  their  fortune.  Very  funny 
the  palace  must  have  looked  each  morning,  with 
the  dabs  of  different  colour  on  the  white  marble 
as  the  princes  were  climbing  up  the  walls.  But 
though  some  managed  to  get  further  than  others, 
nobody  was  anywhere  near  the  top. 

They  had  already  been  spending  several  days 
in  this  manner  when  the  young  prince  arrived, 
and  as  he  was  pleasant  to  look  upon,  and  civil  to 
talk  to,  they  welcomed  him  to  the  house  which 
had  been  given  to  them,  and  saw  that  his  bath 
was  properly  perfumed  after  his  long  journey. 
*  Where  do  you  come  from  ? '  they  said  at  last. 
'  And  whose  son  are  you  ? ' 

But  the  young  prince  had  reasons  for  keeping 
his  own  secret,  and  he  answered  : 


42    THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  THREE  FATES 

'  My  father  was  master  of  the  horse  to  the 
king  of  my  country,  and  after  my  mother  died 
he  married  another  wife.  At  first  all  went  well, 
but  as  soon  as  she  had  babies  of  her  own  she 
hated  me,  and  I  fled,  lest  she  should  do  me 
harm.' 

The  hearts  of  the  other  young  men  were 
touched  as  soon  as  they  heard  this  story,  and 
they  did  everything  they  could  think  of  to  make 
him  forget  his  past  sorrows. 

'  What  are  you  doing  here  ? '  said  the  youth, 
one  day. 

*  We  spend  our  whole  time  climbing  up  the 
walls  of  the  palace,  trying  to  reach  the  windows 
of  the  princess,'  answered  the  young  men ;  *  but, 
as  yet,  no  one  has  reached  within  ten  feet  of 
them.' 

'  Oh,  let  me  try  too,'  cried  the  prince  ;  *  but  to- 
morrow I  will  wait  and  see  what  you  do  before 
I  begin.' 

So  the  next  day  he  stood  where  he  could 
watch  the  young  men  go  up,  and  he  noted  the 
places  on  the  wall  that  seemed  most  difficult,  and 
made  up  his  mind  that  when  his  turn  came  he 
would  go  up  some  other  way. 


THE  PRINCE   AND  THE   THREE  FATES    43 

Day  after  day  he  was  to  be  seen  watching  the 
wooers,  till,  one  morning,  he  felt  that  he  knew 
the  plan  of  the  walls  by  heart,  and  took  his  place 
by  the  side  of  the  others.  Thanks  to  what  he 
had  learned  from  the  failure  of  the  rest,  he 
managed  to  grasp  one  little  rough  projection 
after  another,  till  at  last,  to  the  envy  of  his 
friends,  he  stood  on  the  sill  of  the  princess's 
window.  Looking  up  from  below,  they  saw  a 
white  hand  stretched  forth  to  draw  him  in. 

Then  one  of  the  young  men  ran  straight  to 
the  king's  palace,  and  said  :  '  The  wall  has  been 
climbed,  and  the  prize  is  won  ! ' 

*  By  whom  ? '  cried  the  king,  starting  up  from 
his  throne  ;  *  which  of  the  princes  may  I  claim  as 
my  son-in-law  ? ' 

'  The  youth  who  succeeded  in  climbing  to  the 
princess's  window  is  not  a  prince  at  all,'  answered 
the  young  man.  '  He  is  the  son  of  the  master  of 
the  horse  to  the  great  king  who  dwells  across  the 
river,  and  he  fled  from  his  own  country  to  escape 
from  the  hatred  of  his  stepmother. 

At  this  news  the  king  was  very  angry,  for  it 
had  never  entered  his  head  that  anyone  but  a 
prince  would  seek  to  woo  his  daughter. 


44    THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  THREE  FATES 

'  Let  him  go  back  to  the  land  whence  he  came,' 
he  shouted  in  wrath  ;  '  does  he  expect  me  to  give 
my  daughter  to  an  exile?'  And  he  began  to 
smash  the  drinking  vessels  in  his  fury ;  indeed, 
he  quite  frightened  the  young  man,  who  ran 
hastily  home  to  his  friends,  and  told  the  youth 
what  the  king  had  said. 

Now  the  princess,  who  was  leaning  from  her 
window,  heard  his  words  and  bade  the  messenger 
go  back  to  the  king  her  father  and  tell  him  that 
she  had  sworn  a  vow  never  to  eat  or  drink  again 
if  the  youth  was  taken  from  her.  The  king  was 
more  angry  than  ever  when  he  received  this 
message,  and  ordered  his  guards  to  go  at  once 
to  the  palace  and  put  the  successful  wooer  to 
death ;  but  the  princess  threw  herself  between 
him  and  his  murderers. 

'Lay  a  finger  on  him,  and  I  shall  be  dead 
before  sunset,'  said  she;  and  as  they  saw  that 
she  meant  it,  they  left  the  palace,  and  carried 
the  tale  to  her  father. 

By  this  time  the  king's  anger  was  dying  away, 
and  he  began  to  consider  what  his  people  would 
think  of  him  if  he  broke  the  promise  he  had 
publicly  given.  So  he  ordered  the  princess  to  be 


THE  PRINCE   AND  THE  THREE  FATES    45 

brought  before  him,  and  the  young  man  also, 
and  when  they  entered  the  throne  room  he  was 
so  pleased  with  the  noble  air  of  the  victor  that 
his  wrath  quite  melted  away,  and  he  ran  to  him 
and  embraced  him. 

'  Tell  me  who  you  are  ? '  he  asked,  when  he 
had  recovered  himself  a  little,  *  for  I  will  never 
believe  that  you  have  not  royal  blood  in  your 
veins.' 

But  the  prince  still  had  his  reasons  for  being 
silent,  and  only  told  the  same  story.  However, 
the  king  had  taken  such  a  fancy  to  the  youth 
that  he  said  no  more,  and  the  marriage  took 
place  the  following  day,  and  great  herds  of 
cattle  and  a  large  estate  were  given  to  the  young 
couple. 

After  a  little  while  the  prince  said  to  his  wife : 
'My  life  is  in  the  hands  of  three  creatures — a 
crocodile,  a  serpent,  and  a  dog.' 

'Ah,  how  rash  you  are!'  cried  the  princess, 
throwing  her  arms  round  his  neck.  'If  you 
know  that,  how  can  you  have  that  horrid  beast 
about  you  ?  I  will  give  orders  to  have  him  killed 
at  once.' 


46    THE   PRINCE   AND   THE   THREE   FATES 

But  the  prince  would  not  listen  to  her. 

'Kill  my  dear  little  dog,  who  has  been  my 
playfellow  since  he  was  a  puppy  ? '  exclaimed  he. 
*  Oh,  never  would  I  allow  that.'  And  all  that 
the  princess  could  get  from  him  was  that  he 
would  always  wear  a  sword,  and  have  somebody 
with  him  when  he  left  the  palace. 

When  the  prince  and  princess  had  been  mar- 
ried a  few  months,  the  prince  heard  that  his 
stepmother  was  dead,  and  his  father  was  old  and 
ill,  and  longing  to  have  his  eldest  son  by  his  side 
again.  The  young  man  could  not  remain  deaf 
to  such  a  message,  and  he  took  a  tender  farewell 
of  his  wife,  and  set  out  on  his  journey  home. 
It  was  a  long  way,  and  he  was  forced  to  rest 
often  on  the  road,  and  so  it  happened  that,  one 
night,  when  he  was  sleeping  in  a  city  on  the 
banks  of  the  great  river,  a  huge  crocodile  came 
silently  up  and  made  its  way  along  a  passage  to 
the  prince's  room.  Fortunately  one  of  his 
guards  woke  up  as  it  was  trying  to  steal  past 
them,  and  shut  the  crocodile  up  in  a  large  hall, 
where  a  giant  watched  over  it,  never  leaving  the 
spot  except  during  the  night,  when  the  crocodile 
slept.  And  this  went  on  for  more  than  a  month. 


THE  PRINCE   AND  THE   THREE   FATES    47 

Now,  when  the  prince  found  that  he  was  not 
likely  to  leave  his  father's  kingdom  again,  he  sent 
for  his  wife,  and  bade  the  messenger  tell  her  that 
he  would  await  her  coming  in  the  town  on  the 
banks  of  the  great  river.  This  was  the  reason 
why  he  delayed  his  journey  so  long,  and  nar- 
rowly escaped  being  eaten  by  the  crocodile. 
During  the  weeks  that  followed  the  prince 
amused  himself  as  best  he  could,  though  he 
counted  the  minutes  to  the  arrival  of  the  prin- 
cess, and  when  she  did  come,  he  at  once  prepared 
to  start  for  the  court.  That  very  night,  however, 
while  he  was  asleep,  the  princess  noticed  some- 
thing strange  in  one  of  the  corners  of  the  room. 
It  was  a  dark  patch,  and  seemed,  as  she  looked, 
to  grow  longer  and  longer,  and  to  be  moving 
slowly  towards  the  cushions  on  which  the  prince 
was  lying.  She  shrank  in  terror,  but,  slight  as 
was  the  noise,  the  thing  heard  it,  and  raised  its 
head  to  listen.  Then  she  saw  it  was  the  long  flat 
head  of  a  serpent,  and  the  recollection  of  the 
prophecy  rushed  into  her  mind.  Without  waking 
her  husband,  she  glided  out  of  bed,  and  taking 
up  a  heavy  bowl  of  milk  which  stood  on  the 
table,  laid  it  on  the  floor  in  the  path  of  the  ser- 


48    THE   PRINCE   AND  THE   THREE   FATES 

pent — for  she  knew  that  no  serpent  in  the  world 
can  resist  milk.  She  held  her  breath  as  the  snake 
drew  near,  and  watched  it  throw  up  its  head 
again  as  if  it  was  smelling  something  nice, 
while  its  forky  tongue  darted  out  greedily.  At 
length  its  eyes  fell  upon  the  milk,  and  in  an 
instant  it  was  lapping  it  so  fast  that  it  was  a 
wonder  the  creature  did  not  choke,  for  it  never 
took  its  head  from  the  bowl  as  long  as  a  drop 
was  left  in  it.  After  that  it  dropped  on  the 
ground  and  slept  heavily.  This  was  what  the 
princess  had  been  waiting  for,  and,  catching  up 
her  husband's  sword,  she  severed  the  snake's 
head  from  its  body. 

The  morning  after  this  adventure  the  prince 
and  princess  set  out  for  the  king's  palace,  but 
found,  when  they  reached  it,  that  he  was  already 
dead.  They  gave  him  a  magnificent  burial,  and 
then  the  prince  had  to  examine  the  new  laws 
which  had  been  made  in  his  absence,  and  do  a 
great  deal  of  business  besides,  till  he  grew  quite 
ill  from  fatigue,  and  was  obliged  to  go  away  to 
one  of  his  palaces  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  in 
order  to  rest.  Here  he  soon  got  better,  and 
began  to  hunt,  and  to  shoot  wild  duck  with  his 


THE  PRINCE   AND  THE  THREE  FATES    49 

bow  ;  and  wherever  he  went,  his  dog,  now  grown 
very  old,  went  with  him. 

One  morning  the  prince  and  his  dog  were  out 
as  usual,  and  in  chasing  their  game  they  drew 
near  the  bank  of  the  river.  The  prince  was 
running  at  full  speed  after  his  dog  when  he 
almost  fell  over  something  that  looked  like  a 
log  of  wood,  which  was  lying  in  his  path.  To 
his  surprise  a  voice  spoke  to  him,  and  he  saw 
that  the  thing  which  he  had  taken  for  a  branch 
was  really  a  crocodile. 

'  You  cannot  escape  from  me,'  it  was  saying, 
when  he  had  gathered  his  senses  again.  « I  am 
your  fate,  and  wherever  you  go,  and  whatever 
you  do,  you  will  always  find  me  before  you. 
There  is  only  one  means  of  shaking  off  my 
power.  If  you  can  dig  a  pit  in  the  dry  sand 
which  will  remain  full  of  water,  my  spell  will  be 
broken.  If  not  death  will  come  to  you  speedily. 
1  give  you  this  one  chance.  Now  go.' 

The  young  man  walked  sadly  away,  and  when 
he  reached  the  palace  he  shut  himself  into  his 
room,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  day  refused  to  see 
anyone,  not  even  his  wife.  At  sunset,  however, 
as  no  sound  could  be  heard  through  the  door, 


50    THE  PRINCE   AND  THE  THREE  FATES 

the  princess  grew  quite  frightened,  and  made 
such  a  noise  that  the  prince  was  forced  to  draw 
back  the  bolt  and  let  her  come  in.  *  How  pale 
you  look,'  she  cried,  'has  anything  hurt  you? 
Tell  me,  I  pray  you,  what  is  the  matter,  for 
perhaps  I  can  help  you ! ' 

So  the  prince  told  her  the  whole  story,  and  of 
the  impossible  task  given  him  by  the  crocodile. 

'  How  can  a  sand  hole  remain  full  of  water  ? ' 
asked  he.  'Of  course  it  will  all  run  through. 
The  crocodile  called  it  a  "  chance  " ;  but  he  might 
as  well  have  dragged  me  into  the  river  at  once. 
He  said  truly  that  I  cannot  escape  him.' 

'  Oh,  if  that  is  all,'  cried  the  princess,  '  I  can 
set  you  free  myself,  for  my  fairy  godmother 
taught  me  to  know  the  use  of  plants,  and  in  the 
desert  not  far  from  here  there  grows  a  little  four- 
leaved  herb  which  will  keep  the  water  in  the  pit 
for  a  whole  year.  I  will  go  in  search  of  it  at 
dawn,  and  you  can  begin  to  dig  the  hole  as  soon 
as  you  like.' 

To  comfort  her  husband,  the  princess  had 
spoken  lightly  and  gaily;  but  she  knew  very 
well  she  had  no  light  task  before  her.  Still,  she 
was  full  of  courage  and  energy,  and  determined 


THE  PRIN7CE   AND  THE  THREE   FATES    51 

that,  one  way  or  another,  her  husband  should  be 
saved. 

It  was  still  starlight  when  she  left  the  palace 
on  a  snow-white  donkey,  and  rode  away  from  the 
river  straight  to  the  west.  For  some  time  she 
could  see  nothing  before  her  but  a  flat  waste  of 
sand,  which  became  hotter  and  hotter  as  the  sun 
rose  higher  and  higher.  Then  a  dreadful  thirst 
seized  her  and  the  donkey,  but  there  was  no 
stream  to  quench  it,  and  if  there  had  been  she 
would  hardly  have  had  time  to  stop,  for  she  still 
had  far  to  go,  and  must  be  back  before  evening, 
or  else  the  crocodile  might  declare  that  the 
prince  had  not  fulfilled  his  conditions.  So  she 
spoke  cheering  words  to  her  donkey,  who  brayed 
in  reply,  and  the  two  pushed  steadily  on. 

Oh !  how  glad  they  both  were  when  they 
caught  sight  of  a  tall  rock  in  the  distance.  They 
forgot  that  they  were  thirsty,  and  that  the  sun 
was  hot ;  and  the  ground  seemed  to  fly  under 
their  feet,  till  the  donkey  stopped  of  its  own 
accord  in  the  cool  shadow.  But  though  the 
donkey  might  rest  the  princess  could  not,  for 
the  plant,  as  she  knew,  grew  on  the  very  top  of 
the  rock,  and  a  wide  chasm  ran  round  the  foot 


52    THE   PRINCE   AND  THE   THREE   FATES 

of  it.  Luckily  she  had  brought  a  rope  with  her, 
and  making  a  noose  at  one  end,  she  flung  it 
across  with  all  her  might.  The  first  time  it  slid 
back  slowly  into  the  ditch,  and  she  had  to  draw 
it  up,  and  throw  it  again,  but  at  length  the 
noose  caught  on  something,  the  princess  could 
not  see  what,  and  had  to  trust  her  whole  weight 
to  this  little  bridge,  which  might  snap  and  let 
her  fall  deep  down  among  the  rocks.  And  in 
that  case  her  death  was  as  certain  as  that  of  the 
prince. 

But  nothing  so  dreadful  happened.  The  prin- 
cess got  safely  to  the  other  side,  and  then  be- 
came the  worst  part  of  her  task.  As  fast  as  she 
put  her  foot  on  a  ledge  of  the  rock  the  stone 
broke  away  from  under  her,  and  left  her  in  the 
same  place  as  before.  Meanwhile  the  hours  were 
passing,  and  it  was  nearly  noon. 

The  heart  of  the  poor  princess  was  filled  with 
despair,  but  she  would  not  give  up  the  struggle. 
She  looked  round  till  she  saw  a  small  stone 
above  her  which  seemed  rather  stronger  than 
the  rest,  and  by  only  poising  her  foot  lightly  on 
those  that  lay  between,  she  managed  by  a  great 
effort  to  reach  it.  In  this  way,  with  torn  and 


THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  THREE  FATES    53 

bleeding  hands,  she  gained  the  top ;  but  here 
such  a  violent  wind  was  blowing  that  she  was 
almost  blinded  with  dust,  and  was  obliged  to 
throw  herself  on  the  ground,  and  feel  about 
after  the  precious  herb. 

For  a  few  terrible  moments  she  thought  that 
the  rock  was  bare,  and  that  her  journey  had  been 
to  no  purpose.  Feel  where  she  would,  there 
was  nothing  but  grit  and  stones,  when,  suddenly, 
her  fingers  touched  something  soft  in  a  crevice. 
It  was  a  plant,  that  was  clear ;  but  was  it  the 
right  one  ?  See  she  could  not,  for  the  wind  was 
blowing  more  fiercely  than  ever,  so  she  lay 
where  she  was  and  counted  the  leaves.  One, 
two,  three — yes  !  yes  !  there  were  four !  And 
plucking  a  leaf  she  held  it  safe  in  her  hand  while 
she  turned,  almost  stunned  by  the  wind,  to  go 
down  the  rock. 

When  once  she  was  safely  over  the  side  all 
became  still  in  a  moment,  and  she  slid  down  the 
rock  so  fast  that  it  was  only  a  wonder  that  she 
did  not  land  in  the  chasm.  However,  by  good 
luck,  she  stopped  quite  close  to  her  rope  bridge 
and  was  soon  across  it.  The  donkey  brayed  joy- 
fully at  the  sight  of  her,  and  set  off  home  at  his 


54    THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  THREE   FATES 

best  speed,  never  seeming  to  know  that  the  earth 
under  his  feet  was  nearly  as  hot  as  the  sun  above 
him. 

On  the  bank  of  the  great  river  he  halted,  and 
the  princess  rushed  up  to  where  the  prince  was 
standing  by  the  pit  he  had  digged  in  the  dry 
sand,  with  a  huge  water  pot  beside  it.  A  little 
way  off  the  crocodile  lay  blinking  in  the  sun, 
with  his  sharp  teeth  and  whitey-yellow  jaws  wide 
open. 

At  a  signal  from  the  princess  the  prince  poured 
the  water  in  the  hole,  and  the  moment  it  reached 
the  brim  the  princess  flung  in  the  four-leaved 
plant.  Would  the  charm  work,  or  would  the 
water  trickle  away  slowly  through  the  sand,  and 
the  prince  fall  a  victim  to  that  horrible  monster  ? 
For  half  an  hour  they  stood  with  their  eyes 
rooted  to  the  spot,  but  the  hole  remained  as  full 
as  at  the  beginning,  with  the  little  green  leaf 
floating  on  the  top.  Then  the  prince  turned 
with  a  shout  of  triumph,  and  the  crocodile  sulk- 
ily plunged  into  the  river. 

The  prince  had  escaped  for  ever  the  second  of 
his  three  fates  1 

He  stood  there  looking  after  the  crocodile, 


THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  THREE  FATES    55 

and  rejoicing  that  he  was  free,  when  he  was 
startled  by  a  wild  duck  which  flew  past  them, 


seeking  shelter  among  the  rushes  that  bordered 
the  edge  of  the  stream.     In  another  instant  his 


56    THE  PRINCE  AND  THE  THREE  FATES 

dog  dashed  by  in  hot  pursuit,  and  knocked 
heavily  against  his  master's  legs.  The  prince 
staggered,  lost  his  balance  and  fell  backwards 
into  the  river,  where  the  mud  and  the  rushes 
caught  him  and  held  him  fast.  He  shrieked  for 
help  to  his  wife,  who  came  running ;  and  luckily 
brought  her  rope  with  her.  The  poor  old  dog 
was  drowned,  but  the  prince  was  pulled  to  shore. 
*  My  wife,'  he  said,  « has  been  stronger  than  my 
fate.' 


THE   THREE   LITTLE  PIGS 


THERE  was  once  upon  a  time  a  pig  who  lived 
with  her  three  children  on  a  large,  comfortable, 
old-fashioned  farmyard.  The  eldest  of  the  little 
pigs  was  called  Browny,  the  second  Whitey,  and 
the  youngest  and  best  looking  Blacky.  Now 


Browny  was  a  very  dirty  little  pig,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  spent  most  of  his  time  rolling  and 
wallowing  about  in  the  mud.  He  was  never  so 
happy  as  on  a  wet  day,  when  the  mud  in  the 
farmyard  got  soft,  and  thick,  and  slab.  Then  he 

57 


58  THE  THREE  LITTLE   PIGS 

would  steal  away  from  his  mother's  side,  and 
finding  the  muddiest  place  in  the  yard,  would 
roll  about  in  it  and  thoroughly  enjoy  himself. 
His  mother  often  found  fault  with  him  for  this, 
and  would  shake  her  head  sadly  and  say :  *  Ah, 
Browny !  some  day  you  will  be  sorry  that  you 
did  not  obey  your  old  mother.'  But  no  words  of 
advice  or  warning  could  cure  Browny  of  his  bad 
habits. 

AVhitey  was  quite  a  clever  little  pig,  but  she 
was  greedy.  She  was  always  thinking  of  her 
food,  and  looking  forward  to  her  dinner ;  and 
when  the  farm  girl  was  seen  carrying  the  pails 
across  the  yard,  she  would  rise  up  on  her  hind 
legs  and  dance  and  caper  with  excitement.  As 
soon  as  the  food  was  poured  into  the  trough  she 
jostled  Blacky  and  Browny  out  of  the  way  in 
her  eagerness  to  get  the  best  and  biggest  bits 
for  herself.  Her  mother  often  scolded  her  for 
her  selfishness,  and  told  her  that  some  day  she 
would  suffer  for  being  so  greedy  and  grabbing. 

Blacky  was  a  good,  nice  little  pig,  neither 
dirty  nor  greedy.  He  had  nice  dainty  ways  {for 
a  pig),  and  his  skin  was  always  as  smooth  and 
shining  as  black  satin.  He  was  much  cleverer 


THE  THREE  LITTLE  PIGS  59 

than  Browny  and  Whitey,  and  his  mother's  heart 
used  to  swell  with  pride  when  she  heard  the 
farmer's  friends  say  to  each  other  that  some  day 
the  little  black  fellow  would  be  a  prize  pig. 

Now  the  time  came  when  the  mother  pig  felt 
old  and  feeble  and  near  her  end.  One  day  she 
called  the  three  little  pigs  round  her  and  said : 

'My  children,  I  feel  that  I  am  growing  old 
and  weak,  and  that  I  shall  not  live  long.  Before 
I  die  I  should  like  to  build  a  house  for  each  of 
you,  as  this  dear  old  sty  in  which  we  have  lived 
so  happily  will  be  given  to  a  new  family  of  pigs, 
and  you  will  have  to  turn  out.  Now,  Browny, 
what  sort  of  a  house  would  you  like  to  have  ? ' 

'  A  house  of  mud,'  replied  Browny,  looking 
longingly  at  a  wet  puddle  in  the  corner  of  the 
yard. 

'And  you,  Whitey?'  said  the  mother  pig  in 
rather  a  sad  voice,  for  she  was  disappointed  that 
Browny  had  made  so  foolish  a  choice. 

'  A  house  of  cabbage,'  answered  Whitey,  with 
a  mouth  full,  and  scarcely  raising  her  snout  out 
of  the  trough  in  which  she  was  grubbing  for 
some  potato-parings. 

'  Foolish,  foolish  child ! '  said  the  mother  pig, 


60  THE  THREE  LITTLE  PIGS 

looking  quite  distressed.  '  And  you,  Blacky  ? ' 
turning  to  her  youngest  son,  'what  sort  of  a 
house  shall  I  order  for  you  ? ' 

*  A  house  of  brick,  please,  mother,  as  it  will  be 
warm  in  winter,  and  cool  in  summer,  and  safe  all 
the  year  round.' 

'That  is  a  sensible  little  pig,'  replied  his 
mother,  looking  fondly  at  him.  '  I  will  see  that 
the  three  houses  are  got  ready  at  once.  And 
now  one  last  piece  of  advice.  You  have  heard 
me  talk  of  our  old  enemy  the  fox.  When  he 
hears  that  I  am  dead,  he  is  sure  to  try  to  get 
hold  of  you,  to  carry  you  off  to  his  den.  He  is 
very  sly,  and  will  no  doubt  disguise  himself,  and 
pretend  to  be  a  friend,  but  you  must  promise  me 
not  to  let  him  enter  your  houses  on  any  pretext 
whatever.' 

And  the  little  pigs  readily  promised,  for  they 
had  always  had  a  great  fear  of  the  fox,  of  whom 
they  had  heard  many  terrible  tales.  A  short 
time  afterwards  the  old  pig  died,  and  the  little 
pigs  went  to  live  in  their  own  houses. 

Browny  was  quite  delighted  with  his  soft  mud 
walls  and  with  the  clay  floor,  which  soon  looked 
like  nothing  but  a  big  mud  pie.  But  that  was 


THE  THREE  LITTLE   PIGS  61 

what  Browny  enjoyed,  and  he  was  as  happy  as 
possible,  rolling  about  all  day  and  making  him- 
self in  such  a  mess.  One  day,  as  he  was  lying 
half  asleep  in  the  mud,  he  heard  a  soft  knock  at 
his  door,  and  a  gentle  voice  said : 

'  May  I  come  in,  Master  Browny  ?  I  want  to 
see  your  beautiful  new  house.' 

'  Who  are  you  ? '  said  Browny,  starting  up  in 
great  fright,  for  though  the  voice  sounded  gentle, 
he  felt  sure  it  was  a  feigned  voice,  and  he  feared 
it  was  the  fox. 

'  I  am  a  friend  come  to  call  on  you,'  answered 
the  voice. 

'  No,  no,'  replied  Browny, '  I  don't  believe  you 
are  a  friend.  You  are  the  wicked  fox,  against 
whom  our  mother  warned  us.  I  won't  let  you 
in.' 

'  Oho  !  is  that  the  way  you  answer  me  ? '  said 
the  fox,  speaking  very  roughly  in  his  natural 
voice.  '  We  shall  soon  see  who  is  master  here,' 
and  with  his  paws  he  set  to  work  and  scraped  a 
large  hole  in  the  soft  mud  walls.  A  moment 
later  he  had  jumped  through  it,  and  catching 
Browny  by  the  neck,  flung  him  on  his  shoulders 
and  trotted  off  with  him  to  his  den. 


62  THE  THREE  LITTLE  PIGS 

The  next  day,  as  Whitey  was  munching  a  few 
leaves  of  cabbage  out  of  the  corner  of  her  house, 
the  fox  stole  up  to  her  door,  determined  to  carry 
her  off  to  join  her  brother  in  his  den.  He  began 
speaking  to  her  in  the  same  feigned  gentle  voice 
in  which  he  had  spoken  to  Browny ;  but  it 
frightened  her  very  much  when  he  said : 

*  I  am  a  friend  come  to  visit  you,  and  to  have 
some  of  your  good  cabbage  for  my  dinner.' 

*  Please  don't  touch  it,'  cried  Whitey  in  great 
distress.     'The  cabbages  are  the  walls  of  my 
house,  and  if  you  eat  them  you  will  make  a  hole, 
and  the  wind  and  rain  will  come  in  and  give  me 
a  cold.     Do  go  away  ;  I  am  sure  you  are  not  a 
friend,  but  our  wicked  enemy  the  fox.'    And 
poor  Whitey  began  to  whine  and  to  whimper, 
and  to  wish  that  she  had  not  been  such  a  greedy 
little  pig,  and  had  chosen  a  more  solid  material 
than  cabbages  for  her  house.     But  it  was  too 
late  now,  and  in  another  minute  the  fox  had 
eaten  his  way  through  the  cabbage  walls,  and 
had   caught  the   trembling,  shivering  Whitey, 
and  carried  her  off  to  his  den. 

The  next  day  the  fox  started  off  for  Blacky's 
house,  because  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that 


THE  THREE  LITTLE  PIGS  63 

he  would  get  the  three  little  pigs  together  in  his 
den  and  then  kill  them,  and  invite  all  his  friends 
to  a  feast.  But  when  he  reached  the  brick 
house,  he  found  that  the  door  was  bolted 


and  barred,  so  in  his  sly  manner  he  began,  '  Do 
let  me  in,  dear  Blacky.  I  have  brought  you  a 
present  of  some  eggs  that  I  picked  up  in  a  farm- 
yard on  my  way  here.' 


64  THE  THREE  LITTLE   PIGS 

'  No,  no,  Mister  Fox,'  replied  Blacky,  *  I  am 
not  going  to  open  my  door  to  you.  I  know 
your  cunning  ways.  You  have  carried  off  poor 
Browny  and  Whitey,  but  you  are  not  going  to 
get  me.' 

At  this  the  fox  was  so  angry  that  he  dashed 
with  all  his  force  against  the  wall,  and  tried  to 
knock  it  down.  But  it  was  too  strong  and  well 
built ;  and  though  the  fox  scraped  and  tore  at 
the  bricks  with  his  paws  he  only  hurt  himself, 
and  at  last  he  had  to  give  it  up,  and  limp  away 
with  his  fore-paws  all  bleeding  and  sore. 

*  Never  mind  ! '  he  cried  angrily  as  he  went  off, 
'  I'll  catch  you  another  day,  see  if  I  don't,  and 
won't  I  grind  your  bones  to  powder  when  I  have 
got  you  in  my  den  ! '  and  he  snarled  fiercely  and 
showed  his  teeth. 

Next  day  Blacky  had  to  go  into  the  neighbour- 
ing town  to  do  some  marketing  and  to  buy  a 
big  kettle.  As  he  was  walking  home  with  it 
slung  over  his  shoulder,  he  heard  a  sound  of 
steps  stealthily  creeping  after  him.  For  a 
moment  his  heart  stood  still  with  fear,  and 
then  a  happy  thought  came  to  him.  He  had 
just  reached  the  top  of  a  hill,  and  could  see  his 


THE  THREE  LITTLE  PIGS  65 

own  little  house  nestling  at  the  foot  of  it  among 
the  trees.  In  a  moment  he  had  snatched  the 
lid  of  the  kettle  and  had  jumped  in  himself. 
Coiling  himself  round  he  lay  quite  snug  in  the 
bottom  of  the  kettle,  while  with  his  fore-leg  he 
managed  to  put  the  lid  on,  so  that  he  was 
entirely  hidden.  With  a  little  kick  from  the 
inside  he  started  the  kettle  off,  and  down  the 
hill  it  rolled  full  tilt ;  and  when  the  fox  came 
up,  all  that  he  saw  was  a  large  black  kettle 
spinning  over  the  ground  at  a  great  pace.  Very 
much  disappointed,  he  was  just  going  to  turn 
away,  when  he  saw  the  kettle  stop  close  to  the 
little  brick  house,  and  in  a  moment  later  Blacky 
jumped  out  of  it  and  escaped  with  the  kettle 
into  the  house,  when  he  barred  and  bolted  the 
door,  and  put  the  shutter  up  over  the  window. 

'  Oho  1 '  exclaimed  the  fox  to  himself,  *  you 
think  you  will  escape  me  that  way,  do  you  ? 
We  shall  soon  see  about  that,  my  friend,'  and 
very  quietly  and  stealthily  he  prowled  round  the 
house  looking  for  some  way  to  climb  on  to 
the  roof. 

In  the  meantime  Blacky  had  filled  the  kettle 
with  water,  and  having  put  it  on  the  fire,  sat 


66  THE  THREE  LITTLE   PIGS 

down  quietly  waiting  for  it  to  boil.  Just  as  the 
kettle  was  beginning  to  sing,  and  steam  to  come 
out  of  the  spout,  he  heard  a  sound  like  a  soft, 
muffled  step,  patter,  patter,  patter  overhead, 
and  the  next  moment  the  fox's  head  and  fore- 
paws  were  seen  coming  down  the  chimney.  But 


Blacky  very  wisely  had  not  put  the  lid  on  the 
kettle,  and,  with  a  yelp  of  pain,  the  fox  fell  into 
the  boiling  water,  and  before  he  could  escape, 
Blacky  had  popped  the  lid  on,  and  the  fox  was 
scalded  to  death. 

As  soon  as  he  was   sure  that   their  wicked 
enemy  was  really  dead,  and  could  do  them  no 


THE  THREE  LITTLE   PIGS  67 

further  harm,  Blacky  started  off  to  rescue 
Browny  and  Whitey.  As  he  approached  the 
den  he  heard  piteous  grunts  and  squeals  from 
his  poor  little  brother  and  sister,  who  lived  in 
constant  terror  of  the  fox  killing  and  eating 
them.  But  when  they  saw  Blacky  appear  at  the 
entrance  to  the  den  their  joy  knew  no  bounds. 
He  quickly  found  a  sharp  stone  and  cut  the 
cords  by  which  they  were  tied  to  a  stake  in  the 
ground,  and  then  all  three  started  off  together 
for  Blacky's  house,  where  they  lived  happily 
ever  after  ;  and  Browny  quite  gave  up  rolling  in 
the  mud,  and  Whitey  ceased  to  be  greedy,  for 
they  never  forgot  how  nearly  these  faults  had 
brought  them  to  an  untimely  end. 


HEART   OF    ICE 

ONCE  upon  a  time  there  lived  a  King  and  Queen 
who  were  foolish  beyond  all  telling,  but  never- 
theless they  were  vastly  fond  of  one  another. 
It  is  true  that  certain  spiteful  people  were 
heard  to  say  that  this  was  only  one  proof  the 
more  of  their  exceeding  foolishness,  but  of 
course  you  will  understand  that  these  were  not 
their  own  courtiers,  since,  after  all,  they  were  a 
King  and  Queen,  and  up  to  this  time  all  things 
had  prospered  with  them.  For  in  those  days 
the  one  thing  to  be  thought  of  in  governing 
a  kingdom  was  to  keep  well  with  all  the  Fairies 
and  Enchanters,  and  on  no  account  to  stint 
them  of  the  cakes,  the  ells  of  ribbon,  and 
similar  trifles  which  were  their  due,  and,  above 
all  things,  when  there  was  a  christening,  to 
remember  to  invite  every  single  one,  good,  bad, 
or  indifferent,  to  the  ceremony.  Now,  the 
foolish  Queen  had  one  little  son  who  was  just 

68 


HEART  OF  ICE  69 

going  to  be  christened,  and  for  several  months 
she  had  been  hard  at  work  preparing  an  enormous 
list  of  the  names  of  those  who  were  to  be  in- 
vited, but  she  quite  forgot  that  it  would  take 
nearly  as  long  to  read  it  over  as  it  had  taken  to 
write  it  out.  So,  when  the  moment  of  the 
christening  arrived,  the  King — to  whom  the  task 
had  been  entrusted — had  barely  reached  the  end 
of  the  second  page  and  his  tongue  was  tripping 
with  fatigue  and  haste  as  he  repeated  the  usual 
formula :  '  I  conjure  and  pray  you,  Fairy  so- 
and-so  ' — or '  Enchanter  such-a-one ' — *  to  honour 
me  with  a  visit,  and  graciously  bestow  your 
gifts  upon  my  son.' 

To  make  matters  worse,  word  was  brought  to 
him  that  the  Fairies  asked  on  the  first  page  had 
already  arrived  and  were  waiting  impatiently  in 
the  Great  Hall,  and  grumbling  that  nobody  was 
there  to  receive  them.  Thereupon  he  gave  up 
the  list  in  despair  and  hurried  to  greet  those 
whom  he  had  succeeded  in  asking,  imploring 
their  goodwill  so  humbly  that  most  of  them 
were  touched,  and  promised  that  they  would  do 
his  son  no  harm.  But  there  happened  to  be 
among  them  a  Fairy  from  a  far  country  about 


70  HEART  OF  ICE 

whom  they  knew  nothing,  though  her  name  had 
been  written  on  the  first  page  of  the  list.  This 
Fairy  was  annoyed  that  after  having  taken  the 
trouble  to  come  so  quickly,  there  had  been  no 
one  to  receive  her,  or  help  her  to  alight  from  the 
great  ostrich  on  which  she  had  travelled  from 
her  distant  home,  and  now  she  began  to  mutter 
to  herself  in  the  most  alarming  way. 

*  Oh !  prate  away,'  said  she,  '  your  son  will 
never  be  anything  to  boast  of.  Say  what  you 
will,  he  will  be  nothing  but  a  Mannikin ' 

No  doubt  she  would  have  gone  on  longer  in 
this  strain,  and  given  the  unhappy  little  Prince 
half  a  dozen  undesirable  gifts,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  good  Fairy  Genesta,  who  held  the  king- 
dom under  her  special  protection,  and  who 
luckily  hurried  in  just  in  time  to  prevent  further 
mischief.  When  she  had  by  compliments  and 
entreaties  pacified  the  unknown  Fairy,  and  per- 
suaded her  to  say  no  more,  she  gave  the  King  a 
hint  that  now  was  the  time  to  distribute  the 
presents,  after  which  ceremony  they  all  took 
their  departure,  excepting  the  Fairy  Genesta, 
who  then  went  to  see  the  Queen,  and  said  to 
her: 


HEART  OF  ICE  71 

1 A  nice  mess  you  seem  to  have  made  of  this 
business,  madam.  Why  did  you  not  condescend 
to  consult  me  ?  But  foolish  people  like  you 
always  think  they  can  do  without  help  or  advice, 
and  I  observe  that,  in  spite  of  all  my  goodness 
to  you,  you  had  not  even  the  civility  to  invite 
me!' 

'  Ah !  dear  madam,'  cried  the  King,  throw- 
ing himself  at  her  feet ;  '  did  I  ever  have 
time  to  get  as  far  as  your  name?  See  where 
I  put  in  this  mark  when  I  abandoned  the 
hopeless  undertaking  which  I  had  but  just 
begun ! ' 

*  There!  there!'  said  the  Fairy,  'I  am  not 
offended.  I  don't  allow  myself  to  be  put  out 
by  trifles  like  that  with  people  I  really  am  fond 
of.  But  how  about  your  son  ?  I  have  saved  him 
from  a  great  many  disagreeable  things,  but  you 
must  let  me  take  him  away  and  take  care  of 
him,  and  you  will  not  see  him  again  until  he  is 
all  covered  with  fur  1 ' 

At  these  mysterious  words  the  King  and 
Queen  burst  into  tears,  for  they  lived  in  such  a 
hot  climate  themselves  that  how  or  why  the 
Prince  should  come  to  be  covered  with  fur  they 


72  HEART  OF  ICE 

could  not  imagine,  and  thought  it  must  portend 
some  great  misfortune  to  him. 

However,  Genesta  told  them  not  to  disquiet 
themselves. 

*  If  I  left  him  to  you  to  bring  up,'  said  she, 
'  you  would  be  certain  to  make  him  as  foolish  as 
yourselves.  I  do  not  even  intend  to  let  him  know 
that  he  is  your  son.  As  for  you,  you  had  better 
give  your  minds  to  governing  your  kingdom 
properly.'  So  saying,  she  opened  the  window, 
and  catching  up  the  little  Prince,  cradle  and 
all,  she  glided  away  in  the  air  as  if  she  were 
skating  upon  ice,  leaving  the  King  and  Queen  in 
the  greatest  affliction.  They  consulted  everyone 
who  came  near  them  as  to  what  the  Fairy  could 
possibly  have  meant  by  saying  that  when  they 
saw  their  son  again  he  would  be  covered  with 
fur.  But  nobody  could  offer  any  solution  of  the 
mystery,  only  they  all  seemed  to  agree  that  it 
must  be  something  frightful,  and  the  King  and 
Queen  made  themselves  more  miserable  than 
ever,  and  wandered  about  their  palace  in  a  way 
to  make  anyone  pity  them.  Meantime  the  Fairy 
had  carried  off  the  little  Prince  to  her  own  castle, 
and  placed  him  under  the  care  of  a  young  peasant 


She  opened  the  window  and  glided  away  in  the  air 


HEART  OF  ICE  75 

woman,  whom  she  bewitched  so  as  to  make  her 
think  that  this  new  baby  was  one  of  her  own 
children.  So  the  Prince  grew  up  healthy  and 
strong,  leading  the  simple  life  of  a  young 
peasant,  for  the  Fairy  thought  that  he  could 
have  no  better  training ;  only  as  he  grew  older 
she  kept  him  more  and  more  with  herself,  that 
his  mind  might  be  cultivated  and  exercised  as 
well  as  his  body.  But  her  care  did  not  cease 
there:  she  resolved  that  he  should  be  tried  by 
hardships  and  disappointments  and  the  know- 
ledge of  his  fellow-men ;  for  indeed  she  knew  the 
Prince  would  need  every  advantage  that  she 
could  give  him,  since,  though  he  increased  in 
years,  he  did  not  increase  in  height,  but  remained 
the  tiniest  of  Princes.  However,  in  spite  of  this 
he  was  exceedingly  active  and  well  formed,  and 
altogether  so  handsome  and  agreeable  that  the 
smallness  of  his  stature  was  of  no  real  conse- 
quence. The  Prince  was  perfectly  aware  that 
he  was  called  by  the  ridiculous  name  of  « Man- 
nikin,'  but  he  consoled  himself  by  vowing  that, 
happen  what  might,  he  would  make  it  illus- 
trious. 

In  order  to  carry  out  her  plans  for  his  welfare 


76  HEART  OF  ICE 

the  Fairy  now  began  to  send  the  Prince  Manni- 
kin  the  most  wonderful  dreams  of  adventure  by 
sea  and  land,  and  of  these  adventures  he  himself 
was  always  the  hero.     Sometimes  he  rescued  a 
lovely  Princess  from  some  terrible  danger,  again 
he  earned  a  kingdom  by  some  brave  deed,  until 
at  last  he  longed  to  go  away  and  seek  his  fortune 
in  a  far  country  where  his  humble  birth  would 
not  prevent  his  gaining  honour  and  riches  by  his 
courage,  and  it  was  with  a  heart  full  of  am- 
bitious projects  that  he  rode  one  day  into  a  great 
city  not  far  from  the  Fairy's  castle.     As  he  had 
set  out  intending  to  hunt  in  the  surrounding 
forest  he  was  quite  simply  dressed,  and  carried 
only  a  bow  and  arrows  and  a  light  spear ;  but 
even  thus  arrayed  he  looked  graceful  and  dis- 
tinguished.    As  he  entered  the  city  he  saw  that 
the  inhabitants  were  all  racing  with  one  accord 
towards  the  market-place,  and  he  also  turned  his 
horse  in  the  same  direction,  curious  to  know 
what  was  going  forward.    When  he  reached  the 
spot  he  found  that  certain  foreigners  of  strange 
and  outlandish  appearance  were  about  to  make 
a  proclamation  to  the  assembled  citizens,  and  he 
hastily   pushed   his   way  into   the   crowd  until 


HEART   OF   ICE  77 

he  was  near  enough  to  hear  the  words  of 
the  venerable  old  man  who  was  their  spokes- 
man : 

'  Let  the  whole  world  know  that  he  who  can 
reach  the  summit  of  the  Ice  Mountain  shall 
receive  as  his  reward,  not  only  the  incomparable 
Sabella,  fairest  of  the  fair,  but  also  all  the  realms 
of  which  she  is  Queen  ! '  '  Here,'  continued  the 
old  man  after  he  had  made  this  proclamation — 
*  here  is  the  list  of  all  those  Princes  who,  struck 
by  the  beauty  of  the  Princess,  have  perished  in 
the  attempt  to  win  her ;  and  here  is  the  list  of 
those  who  have  just  entered  upon  the  high 
emprise.' 

Prince  Mannikin  was  seized  with  a  violent 
desire  to  inscribe  his  name  among  the  others,  but 
the  remembrance  of  his  dependent  position  and 
his  lack  of  wealth  held  him  back.  But  while  he 
hesitated  the  old  man,  with  many  respectful 
ceremonies,  unveiled  a  portrait  of  the  lovely 
Sabella,  which  was  carried  by  some  of  the  atten- 
dants, and  after  one  glance  at  it  the  Prince 
delayed  no  longer,  but,  rushing  forward,  de- 
manded permission  to  add  his  name  to  the 
list.  When  they  saw  his  tiny  stature  and 


78  HEART  OF  ICE 

simple  attire  the  strangers  looked  at  each 
other  doubtfully,  not  knowing  whether  to 
accept  or  refuse  him.  But  the  Prince  said 
haughtily : 

'Give  me  the  paper  that  I  may  sign  it,'  and 
they  obeyed.  What  between  admiration  for  the 
Princess  and  annoyance,  at  the  hesitation  shown 
by  her  ambassadors,  the  Prince  was  too  much 
agitated  to  choose  any  other  name  than  the  one 
by  which  he  was  always  known.  But  when, 
after  all  the  grand  titles  of  the  other  Princes, 
he  simply  wrote  'Mannikin,'  the  ambassadors 
broke  into  shouts  of  laughter. 

'  Miserable  wretches  ! '  cried  the  Prince  ;  *  but 
for  the  presence  of  that  lovely  portrait  I  would 
cut  off  your  heads.' 

But  he  suddenly  remembered  that,  after  all,  it 
was  a  funny  name,  and  that  he  had  not  yet 
had  time  to  make  it  famous;  so  he  was  calm, 
and  inquired  the  way  to  the  Princess  Sabella's 
country. 

Though  his  heart  did  not  fail  him  in  the  least, 
still  he  felt  there  were  many  difficulties  before 
him,  and  he  resolved  to  set  out  at  once,  without 
even  taking  leave  of  the  Fairy,  for  fear  she 


HEART  OF  ICE 


79 


might  try  to  stop  him.     Everybody  in  the  town 
who  knew  him  made  great  fun  of  the  idea  of 


Mannikin's  undertaking  such  an  expedition,  and 
it  even  came  to  the  ears  of  the  foolish  King  and 


80  HEART  OF  ICE 

Queen,  who  laughed  over  it  more  than  any 
of  the  others,  without  having  an  idea  that 
the  presumptuous  Mannikin  was  their  only 
son ! 

Meantime  the  Prince  was  travelling  on, 
though  the  directions  he  had  received  for  his 
journey  were  none  of  the  clearest. 

'Four  hundred  leagues  north  of  Mount 
Caucasus  you  will  receive  your  orders  and  in- 
structions for  the  conquest  of  the  Ice  Moun- 
tain.' 

Fine  marching  orders,  those,  for  a  man 
starting  from  a  country  near  where  Japan  is 
nowadays ! 

However,  he  fared  eastward,  avoiding  all 
towns,  lest  the  people  should  laugh  at  his  name, 
for  you  see,  he  was  not  a  very  experienced 
traveller,  and  had  not  yet  learned  to  enjoy  a  joke 
even  if  it  were  against  himself.  At  night  he 
slept  in  the  woods,  and  at  first  he  lived  upon 
wild  fruits ,  but  the  Fairy,  who  was  keeping  a 
benevolent  eye  upon  him,  thought  that  it  would 
never  do  to  let  him  be  half  starved  in  that  way, 
so  she  took  to  feeding  him  with  all  sorts  of 
good  things  while  he  was  asleep,  and  the  Prince 


HEART   OF   ICE  81 

wondered  very  much  that  when  he  was  awake  he 
never  felt  hungry  !  True  to  her  plan  the  Fairy 
sent  him  various  adventures  to  prove  his  courage, 
and  he  came  successfully  through  them  all,  only 
in  his  last  fight  with  a  furious  monster  rather 
like  a  tiger  he  had  the  ill  luck  to  lose  his  horse. 
However,  nothing  daunted,  he  struggled  on  on 
foot,  and  at  last  reached  a  seaport.  Here  he 
found  a  boat  sailing  for  the  coast  which  he 
desired  to  reach,  and,  having  just  enough  money 
to  pay  his  passage,  he  went  on  board  and  they 
started.  But  after  some  days  a  fearful  storm 
came  on,  which  completely  wrecked  the  little 
ship,  and  the  Prince  only  saved  his  life  by 
swimming  a  long,  long  way,  to  the  only  land  that 
was  in  sight,  and  which  proved  to  be  a  desert 
island.  Here  he  lived  by  fishing  and  hunting, 
always  hoping  that  the  good  Fairy  would  pre- 
sently rescue  him.  One  day,  as  he  was  looking 
sadly  out  to  sea,  he  became  aware  of  a  curious- 
looking  boat  which  was  drifting  slowly  towards 
the  shore,  and  which  presently  ran  into  a  little 
creek  and  there  stuck  fast  in  the  sand.  Prince 
Mannikin  rushed  down  eagerly  to  examine  it, 
and  saw  with  amazement  that  the  masts  and 


82  HEART  OF  ICE 

spars  were  all  branched,  and  covered  thickly 
with  leaves  until  it  looked  like  a  little  wood. 
Thinking  from  the  stillness  that  there  could  be 
no  one  on  board,  the  Prince  pushed  aside  the 
branches  and  sprang  over  the  side,  and  found 
himself  surrounded  by  the  crew,  who  lay  motion- 
less as  dead  men  and  in  a  most  deplorable  con- 
dition. They,  too,  had  become  almost  like  trees, 
and  were  growing  to  the  deck,  or  to  the  masts, 
or  to  the  sides  of  the  vessel,  or  to  whatever  they 
had  happened  to  be  touching  when  the  enchant- 
ment fell  upon  them.  Mannikin  was  struck 
with  pity  for  their  miserable  plight,  and  set  to 
work  with  might  and  main  to  release  them. 
With  the  sharp  point  of  one  of  his  arrows  he 
gently  detached  their  hands  and  feet  from  the 
wood  which  held  them  fast,  and  carried  them  on 
shore,  one  after  another,  where  he  rubbed  their 
rigid  limbs,  and  bathed  them  with  infusions  of 
various  herbs  with  such  success,  that,  after  a  few 
days,  they  recovered  perfectly  and  were  as  fit  to 
manage  a  boat  as  ever.  You  may  be  sure  that 
the  good  Fairy  Genesta  had  something  to  do 
with  this  marvellous  cure,  and  she  also  put  it 
into  the  Prince's  head  to  rub  the  boat  itself  with 


HEART  OF  ICE  83 

the  same  magic  herbs,  which  cleared  it  entirely, 
and  not  before  it  was  time,  for,  at  the  rate  at 
which  it  was  growing  before,  it  would  very  soon 
have  become  a  forest!  The  gratitude  of  the 


sailors  was  extreme,  and  they  willingly  promised 
to  land  the  Prince  upon  any  coast  he  pleased ; 
but  when  he  questioned  them  about  the  extra- 
ordinary thing  that  had  happened  to  them  and 


84  HEART  OF  ICE 

to  their  ship,  they  could  in  no  way  explain  it, 
except  that  they  said  that,  as  they  were  passing 
along  a  thickly  wooded  coast,  a  sudden  gust  of 
wind  had  reached  them  from  the  land  and  en- 
veloped them  in  a  dense  cloud  of  dust,  after 
which  everything  in  the  boat  that  was  not 
metal  had  sprouted  and  blossomed,  as  the  Prince 
had  seen,  and  that  they  themselves  had  grown 
gradually  numb  and  heavy,  and  had  finally  lost 
all  consciousness.  Prince  Mannikin  was  deeply 
interested  in  this  curious  story,  and  collected  a 
quantity  of  the  dust  from  the  bottom  of  the 
boat,  which  he  carefully  preserved,  thinking  that 
its  strange  property  might  one  day  stand  him  in 
good  stead. 

Then  they  joyfully  left  the  desert  island,  and 
after  a  long  and  prosperous  voyage  over  calm 
seas  they  at  length  came  in  sight  of  land,  and 
resolved  to  go  on  shore,  not  only  to  take  in  a 
fresh  stock  of  water  and  provisions,  but  also  to 
find  out,  if  possible,  where  they  were  and  in 
what  direction  to  proceed. 

As  they  neared  the  coast  they  wondered  if 
this  could  be  another  uninhabited  land,  for  no 
human  beings  could  be  distinguished,  and  yet 


HEART  OF  ICE  85 

that  something  was  stirring  became  evident,  for 
in  the  dust-clouds  that  moved  near  the  ground 
small  dark  forms  were  dimly  visible.  These 
appeared  to  be  assembling  at  the  exact  spot 
where  they  were  preparing  to  run  ashore,  and 
what  was  their  surprise  to  find  they  were  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  large  and  beautiful  spaniels, 
some  mounted  as  sentries,  others  grouped  in 
companies  and  regiments,  all  eagerly  watching 
their  disembarkation.  When  they  found  that 
Prince  Mannikin,  instead  of  saying  '  Shoot 
them,'  as  they  had  feared,  said  «  Hi,  good  dog ! ' 
in  a  thoroughly  friendly  and  ingratiating  way, 
they  crowded  round  him  with  a  great  wagging 
of  tails  and  giving  of  paws,  and  very  soon  made 
him  understand  that  they  wanted  him  to  leave 
his  men  with  the  boat  and  follow  them.  The 
Prince  was  so  curious  to  know  more  about  them 
that  he  agreed  willingly  ;  so,  after  arranging  with 
the  sailors  to  wait  for  him  fifteen  days,  and  then, 
if  he  had  not  come  back,  to  go  on  their  way 
without  him,  he  set  out  with  his  new  friends. 
Their  way  lay  inland,  and  Mannikin  noticed  with 
great  surprise  that  the  fields  were  well  cultivated 
and  that  the  carts  and  ploughs  were  drawn  by 


86  HEART  OF  ICE 

horses  or  oxen,  just  as  they  might  have  been  in 
any  other  country,  and  when  they  passed  any 
village  the  cottages  were  trim  and  pretty,  and  an 
air  of  prosperity  was  everywhere.  At  one  of  the 
villages  a  dainty  little  repast  was  set  before  the 
Prince,  and  while  he  was  eating,  a  chariot  was 
brought,  drawn  by  two  splendid  horses,  which 
were  driven  with  great  skill  by  a  large  spaniel. 
In  this  carriage  he  continued  his  journey  very 
comfortably,  passing  many  similar  equipages 
upon  the  road,  and  being  always  most  court- 
eously saluted  by  the  spaniels  who  occupied 
them.  At  last  they  drove  rapidly  into  a  large 
town,  which  Prince  Mannikin  had  no  doubt  was 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  News  of  his  ap- 
proach had  evidently  been  received,  for  all  the 
inhabitants  were  at  their  doors  and  windows, 
and  all  the  little  spaniels  had  climbed  upon  the 
wall  and  gates  to  see  him  arrive.  The  Prince 
was  delighted  with  the  hearty  welcome  they 
gave  him,  and  looked  round  him  with  the  deepest 
interest.  After  passing  through  a  few  wide 
streets,  well  paved,  and  adorned  with  avenues  of 
fine  trees,  they  drove  into  the  courtyard  of  a 
grand  palace,  which  was  full  of  spaniels  who 


HEART  OF  ICE  87 

were  evidently  soldiers.  'The  King's  body- 
guard,' thought  the  Prince  to  himself  as  he 
returned  their  salutations,  and  then  the  carriage 
stopped,  and  he  was  shown  into  the  presence  of 
the  King,  who  lay  upon  a  rich  Persian  carpet 
surrounded  by  several  little  spaniels,  who  were 
occupied  in  chasing  away  the  flies  lest  they 
should  disturb  his  Majesty.  He  was  the  most 
beautiful  of  all  spaniels,  with  a  look  of  sadness 
in  his  large  eyes,  which,  however,  quite  dis- 
appeared as  he  sprang  up  to  welcome  Prince 
Mannikin  with  every  demonstration  of  delight ; 
after  which  he  made  a  sign  to  his  courtiers,  who 
came  one  by  one  to  pay  their  respects  to  the 
visitor.  The  Prince  thought  that  he  would  find 
himself  puzzled  as  to  how  he  should  carry  on  a 
conversation,  but  as  soon  as  he  and  the  King 
were  once  more  left  alone,  a  Secretary  of  State 
was  sent  for,  who  wrote  from  his  Majesty's 
dictation  a  most  polite  speech,  in  which  he 
regretted  much  that  they  were  unable  to  con- 
verse, except  in  writing,  the  language  of  dogs 
being  difficult  to  understand.  As  for  the 
writing,  it  had  remained  the  same  as  the 
Prince's  own. 


88  HEART   OF   ICE 

Mannikin  thereupon  wrote  a  suitable  reply, 
and  then  begged  the  King  to  satisfy  his  curiosity 
about  all  the  strange  things  he  had  seen  and 
heard  since  his  landing.  This  appeared  to 
awaken  sad  recollections  in  the  King's  mind,  but 
he  informed  the  Prince  that  he  was  called  King 
Bayard,  and  that  a  Fairy,  whose  kingdom  was 
next  his  own,  had  fallen  violently  in  love  with 
him,  and  had  done  all  she  could  to  persuade  him 
to  marry  her ;  but  that  he  could  not  do  so,  as  he 
himself  was  the  devoted  lover  of  the  Queen  of 
the  Spice  Islands.  Finally,  the  Fairy,  furious  at 
the  indifference  with  which  her  love  was  treated, 
had  reduced  him  to  the  state  in  which  the  Prince 
found  him,  leaving  him  unchanged  in  mind,  but 
deprived  of  the  power  of  speech  ;  and,  not  con- 
tent with  wreaking  her  vengeance  upon  the  King 
alone,  she  had  condemned  all  his  subjects  to  a 
similar  fate,  saying : 

*  Bark,  and  run  upon  four  feet,  until  the  time 
comes  when  virtue  shall  be  rewarded  by  love  and 
fortune.' 

Which,  as  the  poor  King  remarked,  was  very 
much  the  same  thing  as  if  she  had  said, '  Remain 
a  spaniel  for  ever  and  ever.' 


HEART  OF  ICE  89 

Prince  Mannikin  was  quite  of  the  same 
opinion ;  nevertheless  he  said  what  we  should 
all  have  said  in  the  same  circumstances : 
*  Your  Majesty  must  have  patience.' 
He  was  indeed  deeply  sorry  for  poor  King 
Bayard,  and  said  all  the  consoling  things  he  could 
think  of,  promising  to  aid  him  with  all  his  might 
if  there  was  anything  to  be  done.  In  short  they 
became  firm  friends,  and  the  King  proudly  dis- 
played to  Mannikin  the  portrait  of  the  Queen  of 
the  Spice  Islands,  and  he  quite  agreed  that  it 
was  worth  while  to  go  through  anything  for  the 
sake  of  a  creature  so  lovely.  Prince  Mannikin 
in  his  turn  told  his  own  history,  and  the  great 
undertaking  upon  which  he  had  set  out,  and 
King  Bayard  was  able  to  give  him  some  valuable 
instructions  as  to  which  would  be  the  best  way 
for  him  to  proceed,  and  then  they  went  together 
to  the  place  where  the  boat  had  been  left.  The 
sailors  were  delighted  to  see  the  Prince  again, 
though  they  had  known  that  he  was  safe,  and 
when  they  had  taken  on  board  all  the  supplies 
which  the  King  had  sent  for  them,  they  started 
once  more.  The  King  and  Prince  parted  with 
much  regret,  and  the  former  insisted  that  Man- 


90  HEART  OF  ICE 

nikin  should  take  with  him  one  of  his  own 
pages,  named  Mousta,  who  was  charged  to 
attend  to  him  everywhere,  and  serve  him  faith- 
fully, which  he  promised  to  do. 

The  wind  being  favourable  they  were  soon 
out  of  hearing  of  the  general  howl  of  regret 
from  the  whole  army,  which  had  been  given  by 
order  of  the  King,  as  a  great  compliment,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  the  land  was  entirely  lost  to 
view.  They  met  with  no  further  adventures 
worth  speaking  of,  and  presently  found  them- 
selves within  two  leagues  of  the  harbour  for 
which  they  were  making.  The  Prince,  however, 
thought  it  would  suit  him  better  to  land  where 
he  was,  so  as  to  avoid  the  town,  since  he  had  no 
money  left  and  was  very  doubtful  as  to  what  he 
should  do  next.  So  the  sailors  set  him  and 
Mousta  on  shore,  and  then  went  back  sorrow- 
fully to  their  ship,  while  the  Prince  and  his 
attendant  walked  off  in  what  looked  to  them 
the  most  promising  direction.  They  soon 
reached  a  lovely  green  meadow  on  the  border 
of  a  wood,  which  seemed  to  them  so  pleasant 
after  their  long  voyage  that  they  sat  down 
to  rest  in  the  shade  and  amused  themselves 


HEART  OF  ICE  91 

by  watching  the  gambols  and  antics  of  a  pretty 
tiny  monkey  in  the  trees  close  by.  The  Prince 
presently  became  so  fascinated  by  it  that  he 
sprang  up  and  tried  to  catch  it,  but  it  eluded  his 
grasp  and  kept  just  out  of  arm's  reach,  until 
it  had  made  him  promise  to  follow  wherever  it 
led  him,  and  then  it  sprang  upon  his  shoulder 
and  whispered  in  his  ear : 

'  We  have  no  money,  my  poor  Mannikin,  and 
we  are  altogether  badly  off,  and  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  to  do  next.' 

'Yes,  indeed,'  answered  the  Prince  ruefully, 
'and  I  have  nothing  to  give  you,  no  sugar  or 
biscuits,  or  anything  that  you  like,  my  pretty 
one.' 

*  Since  you  are  so  thoughtful  for  me,  and  so 
patient  about  your  own  affairs,'  said  the  little 
monkey, '  I  will  show  you  the  way  to  the  Golden 
Rock,  only  you  must  leave  Mousta  to  wait  for 
you  here.' 

Prince  Mannikin  agreed  willingly,  and  then 
the  little  monkey  sprang  from  his  shoulder  to 
the  nearest  tree,  and  began  to  run  through  the 
wood  from  branch  to  branch,  crying,  'Follow 
me.' 


92  HEART  OF  ICE 

This  the  Prince  did  not  find  quite  so  easy, 
but  the  little  monkey  waited  for  him  and  showed 
him  the  easiest  places,  until  presently  the  wood 
grew  thinner  and  they  came  out  into  a  little 
clear  grassy  space  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  in 
the  midst  of  which  stood  a  single  rock,  about 
ten  feet  high.  When  they  were  quite  close  to 
it  the  little  monkey  said  : 

'This  stone  looks  pretty  hard,  but  give  it 
a  blow  with  your  spear  and  let  us  see  what  will 
happen.' 

So  the  Prince  took  his  spear  and  gave  the 
rock  a  vigorous  dig,  which  split  off  several 
pieces,  and  showed  that,  though  the  surface 
was  thinly  coated  with  stone,  inside  it  was  one 
solid  mass  of  pure  gold. 

Thereupon  the  little  monkey  said,  laughing  at 
his  astonishment : 

'I  make  you  a  present  of  what  you  have 
broken  off;  take  as  much  of  it  as  you  think  proper.' 

The  Prince  thanked  her  gratefully,  and  picked 
up  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  lumps  of  gold  ;  as 
he  did  so  the  little  monkey  was  suddenly  trans- 
formed into  a  tall  and  gracious  lady,  who  said 
to  him : 


HEART  OF  ICE  93 

'If  you  are  always  as  kind  and  persevering 
and  easily  contented  as  you  are  now  you  may 
hope  to  accomplish  the  most  difficult  tasks ;  go 
on  your  way  and  have  no  fear  that  you  will 
be  troubled  any  more  for  lack  of  gold,  for  that 
little  piece  which  you  modestly  chose  shall  never 
grow  less,  use  it  as  much  as  you  will.  But  that 
you  may  see  the  danger  you  have  escaped  by 
your  moderation,  come  with  me.'  So  saying  she 
led  him  back  into  the  wood  by  a  different  path, 
and  he  saw  that  it  was  full  of  men  and  women ; 
their  faces  were  pale  and  haggard,  and  they  ran 
hither  and  thither  seeking  madly  upon  the 
ground,  or  in  the  air,  starting  at  every  sound, 
pushing  and  trampling  upon  one  another  in 
their  frantic  eagerness  to  find  the  way  to  the 
Golden  Rock. 

'  You  see  how  they  toil,'  said  the  Fairy ;  *  but 
it  is  all  of  no  avail:  they  will  end  by  dying 
of  despair,  as  hundreds  have  done  before 
them.' 

As  soon  as  they  had  got  back  to  the  place 
where  they  had  left  Mousta  the  Fairy  dis- 
appeared, and  the  Prince  and  his  faithful  Squire, 
who  had  greeted  him  with  every  demonstration 


94  HEART  OF  ICE 

of  joy,  took  the  nearest  way  to  the  city.  Here 
they  stayed  several  days,  while  the  Prince 
provided  himself  with  horses  and  attendants, 
and  made  many  inquiries  about  the  Princess 
Sabella,  and  the  way  to  her  kingdom,  which  was 
still  so  far  away  that  he  could  hear  but  little, 
and  that  of  the  vaguest  description,  but  when 
he  presently  reached  Mount  Caucasus  it  was 
quite  a  different  matter.  Here  they  seemed 
to  talk  of  nothing  but  the  Princess  Sabella,  and 
strangers  from  all  parts  of  the  world  were 
travelling  towards  her  father's  Court. 

The  Prince  heard  plenty  of  assurances  as  to 
her  beauty  and  her  riches,  but  he  also  heard 
of  the  immense  number  of  his  rivals  and  their 
power.  One  brought  an  army  at  his  back, 
another  had  vast  treasures,  a  third  was  as  hand- 
some and  accomplished  as  it  was  possible  to  be  ; 
while,  as  to  poor  Mannikin,  he  had  nothing  but 
his  determination  to  succeed,  his  faithful  spaniel, 
and  his  ridiculous  name — which  last  was  hardly 
likely  to  help  him,  but  as  he  could  not  alter 
it  he  wisely  determined  not  to  think  of  it  any 
more.  After  journeying  for  two  whole  months 
they  came  at  last  to  Trelintin,  the  capital  of  the 


HEART  OF  ICE  95 

Princess  Sabella's  kingdom,  and  here  he  heard 
dismal  stories  about  the  Ice  Mountain,  and  how 
none  of  those  who  had  attempted  to  climb  it 
had  ever  come  back.  He  heard  also  the  story 
of  King  Farda-Kinbras,  Sabella's  father.  It 
appeared  that  he,  being  a  rich  and  powerful 
monarch,  had  married  a  lovely  Princess  named 
Birbantine,  and  they  were  as  happy  as  the  day 
was  long — so  happy  that  as  they  were  out 
sledging  one  day  they  were  foolish  enough  to 
defy  fate  to  spoil  their  happiness. 

'  We  shall  see  about  that,'  grumbled  an  old 
hag  who  sat  by  the  wayside  blowing  her  fingers 
to  keep  them  warm.  The  King  thereupon  was 
very  angry,  and  wanted  to  punish  the  woman ; 
but  the  Queen  prevented  him,  saying : 

'  Alas !  sire,  do  not  let  us  make  bad  worse ; 
no  doubt  this  is  a  Fairy ! ' 

*  You  are  right  there,'  said  the  old  woman, 
and  immediately  she  stood  up,  and  as  they 
gazed  at  her  in  horror  she  grew  gigantic  and 
terrible,  her  staff  turned  to  a  fiery  dragon  with 
outstretched  wings,  her  ragged  cloak  to  a  golden 
mantle,  and  her  wooden  shoes  to  two  bundles  of 
rockets.  '  You  are  right  there,  and  you  will  see 


96  HEART  OF  ICE 

what  will  come  of  your  fine  goings  on,  and 
remember  the  Fairy  Gorgonzola  1 '  So  saying 
she  mounted  the  dragon  and  flew  off,  the  rockets 
shooting  in  all  directions  and  leaving  long  trails 
of  sparks. 

In  vain  did  Farda-Kinbras  and  Birbantine 
beg  her  to  return,  and  endeavour  by  their 
humble  apologies  to  pacify  her;  she  never  so 
much  as  looked  at  them,  and  was  very  soon  out 
of  sight,  leaving  them  a  prey  to  all  kinds  of 
dismal  forebodings.  Very  soon  after  this  the 
Queen  had  a  little  daughter,  who  was  the  most 
beautiful  creature  ever  seen ;  all  the  Fairies  of 
the  North  were  invited  to  her  christening,  and 
warned  against  the  malicious  Gorgonzola.  She 
also  was  invited,  but  she  neither  came  to  the 
banquet  nor  received  her  present ;  but  as  soon  as 
all  the  others  were  seated  at  table,  after  bestow- 
ing their  gifts  upon  the  little  Princess,  she  stole 
into  the  palace,  disguised  as  a  black  cat,  and  hid 
herself  under  the  cradle  until  the  nurses  and  the 
cradle-rockers  had  all  turned  their  backs,  and 
then  she  sprang  out,  and  in  an  instant  had  stolen 
the  little  Princess's  heart  and  made  her  escape, 
only  being  chased  by  a  few  dogs  and  scullions 


Gorgonzola  flies  off  on  her  dragon 


HEART  OF  ICE  99 

on  her  way  across  the  courtyard.  Once  outside 
she  mounted  her  chariot  and  flew  straight  away 
to  the  North  Pole,  where  she  shut  up  her  stolen 
treasure  on  the  summit  of  the  Ice  Mountain, 
and  surrounded  it  with  so  many  difficulties  that 
she  felt  quite  easy  about  its  remaining  there  as 
long  as  the  Princess  lived,  and  then  she  went 
home,  chuckling  at  her  success.  As  to  the  other 
Fairies,  they  went  home  after  the  banquet  with- 
out discovering  that  anything  was  amiss,  and  so 
the  King  and  Queen  were  quite  happy.  Sabella 
grew  prettier  day  by  day.  She  learnt  every- 
thing a  Princess  ought  to  know  without  the 
slightest  trouble,  and  yet  something  always 
seemed  lacking  to  make  her  perfectly  charming. 
She  had  an  exquisite  voice,  but  whether  her 
songs  were  grave  or  gay  it  did  not  matter,  she 
did  not  seem  to  know  what  they  meant ;  and 
everyone  who  heard  her  said  : 

*  She  certainly  sings  perfectly;  but  there  is  no 
tenderness,  no  heart  in  her  voice.'  Poor  Sabella  1 
how  could  there  be  when  her  heart  was  far  away 
on  the  Ice  Mountains  ?  And  it  was  just  the 
same  with  all  the  other  things  that  she  did.  As 
time  went  on,  in  spite  of  the  admiration  of  the 


100  HEART  OF  ICE 

whole  Court  and  the  blind  fondness  of  the  King 
and  Queen,  it  became  more  and  more  evident 
that  something  was  fatally  wrong :  for  those 
who  love  no  one  cannot  long  be  loved ;  and  at 
last  the  King  called  a  general  assembly,  and 
invited  the  Fairies  to  attend,  that  they  might,  if 
possible,  find  out  what  was  the  matter.  After 
explaining  their  grief  as  well  as  he  could,  he 
ended  by  begging  them  to  see  the  Princess  for 
themselves.  *  It  is  certain,'  said  he,  *  that  some- 
thing is  wrong — what  it  is  I  don't  know  how 
to  tell  you,  but  in  some  way  your  work  is 
imperfect.' 

They  all  assured  him  that,  so  far  as  they  knew, 
everything  had  been  done  for  the  Princess,  and 
they  had  forgotten  nothing  that  they  could 
bestow  on  so  good  a  neighbour  as  the  King  had 
been  to  them.  After  this  they  went  to  see 
Sabella;  but  they  had  no  sooner  entered  her 
presence  than  they  cried  out  with  one  ac- 
cord: 

*  Oh  !  horror ! — she  has  no  heart ! 

On  hearing  this  frightful  announcement,  the 
King  and  Queen  gave  a  cry  of  despair,  and 
entreated  the  Fairies  to  find  some  remedy  for 


HEART  OF  ICE  101 

such  an  unheard-of  misfortune.  Thereupon  the 
eldest  Fairy  consulted  her  Book  of  Magic,  which 
she  always  carried  about  with;  her,  hi^ftg'  to  her 
girdle  by  a  thick  silver  chain/ and  there,  she 
found  out  at  once  that  rfc~,w.ag  :Gorgonz6la  who 
had  stolen  the  Princess's  heart,  and  also  dis- 
covered what  the  wicked  old  Fairy  had  done 
with  it. 

'What  shall  we  do?  What  shall  we  do?' 
cried  the  King  and  Queen  in  one  breath. 

'You  must  certainly  suffer  much  annoyance 
from  seeing  and  loving  Sabella,  who  is  nothing  but 
a  beautiful  image,'  replied  the  Fairy,  'and  this 
must  go  on  for  a  long  time ;  but  I  think  I  see 
that  in  the  end  she  will  once  more  regain  her 
heart.  My  advice  is  that  you  shall  at  once 
cause  her  portrait  to  be  sent  all  over  the  world, 
and  promise  her  hand  and  all  her  possessions 
to  the  Prince  who  is  successful  in  reaching 
her  heart.  Her  beauty  alone  is  sufficient  to 
engage  all  the  Princes  of  the  world  in  the 
quest.' 

This  was  accordingly  done,  and  Prince  Man- 
nikin  heard  that  already  five  hundred  Princes 
had  perished  in  the  snow  and  ice,  not  to  mention 


102  HEART  OF  ICE 

their  squires  and  pages ;  and  that  more  con- 
tinued to  arrive  daily,  eager  to  try  their  fortune. 
After  some  consideration  he  determined  to  pre- 
sent himself  at  Court ;  but  his  arrival  made  no 
stir,-  a&*  Ms  -'retinue,  .w.as  as  inconsiderable  as  his 
stature,  and  the  splendour  of  his  rivals  was 
great  enough  to  throw  even  Farda-Kinbras 
himself  into  the  shade.  However,  he  paid  his 
respects  to  the  King  very  gracefully,  and  asked 
permission  to  kiss  the  hand  of  the  Princess  in 
the  usual  manner ;  but  when  he  said  he  was 
called  'Mannikin,'  the  King  could  hardly 
repress  a  smile,  and  the  Princes  who  stood  by 
openly  shouted  with  laughter. 

Turning  to  the  King,  Prince  Mannikin  said 
with  great  dignity : 

*  Pray  laugh  if  it  pleases  your  Majesty,  I  am 
glad  that  it  is  in  my  power  to  afford  you  any 
amusement ;  but  I  am  not  a  plaything  for  these 
gentlemen,  and  I  must  beg  them  to  dismiss  any 
ideas  of  that  kind  from  their  minds  at  once,'  and 
with  that  he  turned  upon  the  one  who  had  laughed 
the  loudest  and  proudly  challenged  him  to  a 
single  combat.  This  Prince,  who  was  called 
Fadasse,  accepted  the  challenge  very  scornfully, 


The  eldest  Fairy  consulted  her  Book  of  Magic 


HEART  OF  ICE  105 

mocking  at  Mannikin,  who,  he  felt  sure,  had  no 
chance  against  himself;  but  the  meeting  was 
arranged  for  the  next  day.  When  Prince 
Mannikin  quitted  the  King's  presence  he  was 
conducted  to  the  audience  hall  of  the  Princess 
Sabella.  The  sight  of  so  much  beauty  and 
magnificence  almost  took  his  breath  away  for  an 
instant,  but,  recovering  himself  with  an  effort, 
he  said : 

'Lovely  Princess,  irresistibly  drawn  by  the 
beauty  of  your  portrait,  I  come  from  the  other 
end  of  the  world  to  offer  my  services  to  you. 
My  devotion  knows  no  bounds,  but  my  absurd 
name  has  already  involved  me  in  a  quarrel  with 
one  of  your  courtiers.  To-morrow  I  am  to  fight 
this  ugly  overgrown  Prince,  and  I  beg  you  to 
honour  the  combat  with  your  presence,  and 
prove  to  the  world  that  there  is  nothing  in  a 
name,  and  that  you  deign  to  accept  Mannikin  as 
your  knight. 

When  it  came  to  this  the  Princess  could  not 
help  being  amused,  for,  though  she  had  no  heart, 
she  was  not  without  humour.  However,  she 
answered  graciously  that  she  accepted  with 
pleasure,  which  encouraged  the  Prince  to  entreat 


106  HEART  OF  ICE 

further  that  she  would  not  show  any  favour  to 
his  adversary. 

'  Alas ! '  said  she,  '  I  favour  none  of  these 
foolish  people,  who  weary  me  with  their  senti- 
ment and  their  folly.  I  do  very  well  as  I  am, 
and  yet  from  one  year's  end  to  another  they  talk 
of  nothing  but  delivering  me  from  some 
imaginary  affliction.  Not  a  word  do  I  under- 
stand of  all  their  pratings  about  love,  and  who 
knows  what  dull  things  besides,  which,  I  declare 
to  you,  I  cannot  even  remember.' 

Mannikin  was  quick  enough  to  gather  from 
this  speech  that  to  amuse  and  interest  the 
Princess  would  be  a  far  surer  way  of  gaining  her 
favour  than  to  add  himself  to  the  list  of  those 
who  continually  teased  her  about  that  mysterious 
thing  called  '  love '  which  she  was  so  incapable 
of  comprehending.  So  he  began  to  talk  of  his 
rivals,  and  found  in  each  of  them  something  to 
make  merry  over,  in  which  diversion  the  Princess 
joined  him  heartily,  and  so  well  did  he  succeed 
in  his  attempt  to  amuse  her  that  before  very 
long  she  declared  that  of  all  the  people  at 
Court  he  was  the  one  to  whom  she  preferred  to 
talk. 


HEART  OF  ICE 


107 


The  following  day,  at  the  time  appointed  for 
the  combat,  when  the  King,  the  Queen,  and  the 
Princess  had  taken  their  places,  and  the  whole 
Court  and  the  whole  town  were  assembled  to 
see  the  show,  Prince  Fadasse  rode  into  the  lists 
magnificently  armed  and  accoutred,  followed  by 


twenty-four  squires  and  a  hundred  men-at-arms, 
each  one  leading  a  splendid  horse,  while  Prince 
Mannikin  entered  from  the  other  side  armed  only 
with  his  spear  and  followed  by  the  faithful 
Mousta.  The  contrast  between  the  two  cham- 
pions was  so  great  that  there  was  a  shout  of 
laughter  from  the  whole  assembly  ;  but  when  at 


108  HEART  OF  ICE 

the  sounding  of  a  trumpet  the  combatants 
rushed  upon  each  other,  and  Mannikin,  eluding 
the  blow  aimed  at  him,  succeeded  in  thrusting 
Prince  Fadasse  from  his  horse  and  pinning  him 
to  the  sand  with  his  spear,  it  changed  to  a 
murmur  of  admiration. 

So  soon  as  he  had  him  at  his  mercy,  however, 
Mannikin,  turning  to  the  Princess,  assured  her 
that  he  had  no  desire  to  kill  anyone  who  called 
himself  her  courtier,  and  then  he  bade  the  furious 
and  humiliated  Fadasse  rise  and  thank  the 
Princess  to  whom  he  owed  his  life.  Then,  amid 
the  sounding  of  the  trumpets  and  the  shoutings 
of  the  people,  he  and  Mousta  retired  gravely 
from  the  lists. 

The  King  soon  sent  for  him  to  congratulate 
him  upon  his  success,  and  to  offer  him  a  lodging 
in  the  palace,  which  he  joyfully  accepted.  While 
the  Princess  expressed  a  wish  to  have  Mousta 
brought  to  her,  and,  when  the  Prince  sent  for 
him,  she  was  so  delighted  with  his  courtly 
manners  and  his  marvellous  intelligence  that  she 
entreated  Mannikin  to  give  him  to  her  for  her 
own.  The  Prince  consented  with  alacrity,  not 
only  out  of  politeness,  but  because  he  foresaw 


HEART  OF  ICE  109 

that  to  have  a  faithful  friend  always  near  the 
Princess  might  some  day  be  of  great  service  to 
him.  All  these  events  made  Prince  Mannikin  a 
person  of  much  more  consequence  at  the  Court. 
Very  soon  after,  there  arrived  upon  the  frontier 
the  Ambassador  of  a  very  powerful  King,  who 
sent  to  Farda-Kinbras  the  following  letter,  at  the 
same  time  demanding  permission  to  enter  the 
capital  in  state  to  receive  the  answer : 

'  I,  Brandatimor,  to  Farda-Kinbras  send 
greeting.  If  I  had  before  this  time  seen  the 
portrait  of  your  beautiful  daughter  Sabella  I 
should  not  have  permitted  all  these  adventurers 
and  petty  Princes  to  be  dancing  attendance  and 
getting  themselves  frozen  with  the  absurd  idea 
of  meriting  her  hand.  For  myself  I  am  not 
afraid  of  any  rivals,  and,  now  1  have  declared 
my  intention  of  marrying  your  daughter,  no 
doubt  they  will  at  once  withdraw  their  pre- 
tensions. My  Ambassador  has  orders,  therefore, 
to  make  arrangements  for  the  Princess  to  come 
and  be  married  to  me  without  delay — for  I  attach 
no  importance  at  all  to  the  farrago  of  nonsense 
which  you  have  caused  to  be  published  all  over 
the  world  about  this  Ice  Mountain.  If  the 


110  HEART  OF  ICE 

Princess  really  has  no  heart,  be  assured  that  I 
shall  not  concern  myself  about  it,  since,  if  any- 
body can  help  her  to  discover  one,  it  is  myself. 
My  worthy  father-in-law,  farewell ! ' 

The  reading  of  this  letter  embarrassed  and 
displeased  Farda-Kinbras  and  Birbantine  im- 
mensely, while  the  Princess  was  furious  at  the 
insolence  of  the  demand.  They  all  three  re- 
solved that  its  contents  must  be  kept  a  profound 
secret  until  they  could  decide  what  reply  should 
be  sent,  but  Mousta  contrived  to  send  word  of 
all  that  had  passed  to  Prince  Mannikin.  He 
was  naturally  alarmed  and  indignant,  and,  after 
thinking  it  over  a  little,  he  begged  an  audience 
of  the  Princess,  and  led  the  conversation  so 
cunningly  up  to  the  subject  that  was  uppermost 
in  her  thoughts,  as  well  as  his  own,  that  she 
presently  told  him  all  about  the  matter  and 
asked  his  advice  as  to  what  it  would  be  best  to 
do.  This  was  exactly  what  he  had  not  been 
able  to  decide  for  himself;  however,  he  replied 
that  he  should  advise  her  to  gain  a  little  time 
by  promising  her  answer  after  the  grand  entry 
of  the  Ambassador,  and  this  was  accordingly 
done. 


HEART  OF  ICE  111 

The  Ambassador  did  not  at  all  like  being  put 
off  after  that  fashion,  but  he  was  obliged  to  be 
content,  and  only  said  very  arrogantly  that  so 
soon  as  his  equipages  arrived,  as  he  expected 
they  would  do  very  shortly,  he  would  give  all 
the  people  of  the  city,  and  the  stranger  Princes 
with  whom  it  was  inundated,  an  idea  of  the 
power  and  the  magnificence  of  his  master. 
Mannikin,  in  despair,  resolved  that  he  would 
for  once  beg  the  assistance  of  the  kind  Fairy 
Genesta.  He  often  thought  of  her  and  always 
with  gratitude,  but  from  the  moment  of  his  set- 
ting out  he  had  determined  to  seek  her  aid  only 
on  the  greatest  occasions.  That  very  night,  when 
he  had  fallen  asleep  quite  worn  out  with  thinking 
over  all  the  difficulties  of  the  situation,  he 
dreamed  that  the  Fairy  stood  beside  him  and 
said: 

*  Mannikin,  you  have  done  very  well  so  far ; 
continue  to  please  me  and  you  shall  always  find 
good  friends  when  you  need  them  most.  As  for 
this  affair  with  the  Ambassador,  you  can  assure 
Sabella  that  she  may  look  forward  tranquilly  to 
his  triumphal  entry,  since  it  will  all  turn  out  well 
for  her  in  the  end.' 


112  HEART  OF  ICE 

The  Prince  tried  to  throw  himself  at  her  feet 
to  thank  her,  but  woke  to  find  it  was  all  a  dream  ; 
nevertheless  he  took  fresh  courage,  and  went  next 
day  to  see  the  Princess,  to  whom  he  gave  many 
mysterious  assurances  that  all  would  yet  be  well. 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  ask  her  if  she  would 
not  be  very  grateful  to  anyone  who  would  rid 
her  of  the  insolent  Brandatimor.  To  which  she 
replied  that  her  gratitude  would  know  no  bounds. 
Then  he  wanted  to  know  what  would  be  her  best 
wish  for  the  person  who  was  lucky  enough  to 
accomplish  it.  To  which  she  said  that  she  would 
wish  them  to  be  as  insensible  to  the  folly  called 
*  love '  as  she  was  herself ! 

This  was  indeed  a  crushing  speech  to  make  to 
such  a  devoted  lover  as  Prince  Mannikin,  but  he 
concealed  the  pain  it  caused  him  with  great 
courage. 

And  now  the  Ambassador  sent  to  say  that  on 
the  very  next  day  he  would  come  in  state  to 
receive  his  answer,  and  from  the  earliest  dawn 
the  inhabitants  were  astir,  to  secure  the  best 
places  for  the  grand  sight ;  but  the  good  Fairy 
Genesta  was  providing  them  an  amount  .of 
amusement  they  were  far  from  expecting,  for 


HEART  OF  ICE  113 

she  so  enchanted  the  eyes  of  all  the  spectators 
that  when  the  Ambassador's  gorgeous  procession 
appeared,  the  splendid  uniforms  seemed  to  them 
miserable  rags  that  a  beggar  would  have  been 
ashamed  to  wear,  the  prancing  horses  appeared 


as  wretched  skeletons  hardly  able  to  drag  one 
leg  after  the  other,  while  their  trappings,  which 
really  sparkled  with  gold  and  jewels,  looked  like 
old  sheepskins  that  would  not  have  been  good 
enough  for  a  plough  horse.  The  pages  resembled 
the  ugliest  sweeps.  The  trumpets  gave  no  more 


114  HEART  OF  ICE 

sound  than  whistles  made  of  onion-stalks,  or 
combs  wrapped  in  paper ;  while  the  train  of  fifty 
carriages  looked  no  better  than  fifty  donkey  carts. 
In  the  last  of  these  sat  the  Ambassador  with 
the  haughty  and  scornful  air  which  he  considered 
becoming  in  the  representative  of  so  powerful  a 
monarch  :  for  this  was  the  crowning  point  of  the 
absurdity  of  the  whole  procession,  that  all  who 
took  part  in  it  wore  the  expression  of  vanity  and 
self-satisfaction  and  pride  in  their  own  ap- 
pearance and  all  their  surroundings  which  they 
believed  their  splendour  amply  justified. 

The  laughter  and  howls  of  derision  from  the 
whole  crowd  rose  ever  louder  and  louder  as 
the  extraordinary  cortege  advanced,  and  at  last 
reached  the  ears  of  the  King  as  he  waited  in 
the  audience  hall,  and  before  the  procession 
reached  the  palace  he  had  been  informed  of 
its  nature,  and,  supposing  that  it  must  be  in- 
tended as  an  insult,  he  ordered  the  gates  to 
be  closed.  You  may  imagine  the  fury  of  the 
Ambassador  when,  after  all  his  pomp  and  pride, 
the  King  absolutely  and  unaccountably  refused 
to  receive  him.  He  raved  wildly  both  against 
King  and  people,  and  the  cortege  retired  in 


HEART  OF  ICE  115 

great  confusion,  jeered  at  and  pelted  with  stones 
and  mud  by  the  enraged  crowd.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  he  left  the  country  as  fast  as  horses 
could  carry  him,  but  not  before  he  had  declared 
war,  with  the  most  terrible  menaces,  threaten- 
ing to  devastate  the  country  with  fire  and 
sword. 

Some  days  after  this  disastrous  embassy  King 
Bayard  sent  couriers  to  Prince  Mannikin  with  a 
most  friendly  letter,  offering  his  services  in  any 
difficulty,  and  inquiring  with  the  deepest  in- 
terest how  he  fared. 

Mannikin  at  once  replied,  relating  all  that  had 
happened  since  they  parted,  not  forgetting  to 
mention  the  event  which  had  just  involved 
Farda-Kinbras  and  Brandatimor  in  this  deadly 
quarrel,  and  he  ended  by  entreating  his  faithful 
friend  to  despatch  a  few  thousands  of  his  veteran 
spaniels  to  his  assistance. 

Neither  the  King,  the  Queen,  nor  the  Princess 
could  in  the  least  understand  the  amazing  con- 
duct of  Brandatimor's  Ambassador ;  nevertheless 
the  preparations  for  the  war  went  forward 
briskly  and  all  the  Princes  who  had  not  gone 
on  towards  the  Ice  Mountain  offered  their 


116  HEART  OF  ICE 

services,  at  the  same  time  demanding  all  the 
best  appointments  in  the  King's  army.  Man- 
nikin  was  one  of  the  first  to  volunteer,  but 
he  only  asked  to  go  as  aide-de-camp  to  the 
commander-in-chief,  who  was  a  gallant  soldier 
and  celebrated  for  his  victories.  As  soon  as  the 
army  could  be  got  together  it  was  marched  to 
the  frontier,  where  it  met  the  opposing  force 
headed  by  Brandatimor  himself,  who  was  full  of 
fury,  determined  to  avenge  the  insult  to  his 
Ambassador  and  to  possess  himself  of  the 
Princess  Sabella.  All  the  army  of  Farda- 
Kinbras  could  do,  being  so  heavily  outnumbered, 
was  to  act  upon  the  defensive,  and  before  long 
Mannikin  won  the  esteem  of  the  officers  for  his 
ability,  and  of  the  soldiers  for  his  courage,  and 
care  for  their  welfare,  and  in  all  the  skirmishes 
which  he  conducted  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
vanquish  the  enemy. 

At  last  Brandatimor  engaged  the  whole  army 
in  a  terrific  conflict,  and  though  the  troops  of 
Farda-Kinbras  fought  with  desperate  courage, 
their  general  was  killed,  and  they  were  defeated 
and  forced  to  retreat  with  immense  loss.  Man- 
nikin did  wonders,  and  half  a  dozen  times  turned 


HEART  OF  ICE  117 

the  retreating  forces  and  beat  back  the  enemy ; 
and  he  afterwards  collected  troops  enough  to 
keep  them  in  check  until  the  severe  winter  set- 
ting in  put  an  end  to  hostilities  for  a  while. 

He  then  turned  to  the  Court,  where  conster- 
nation reigned.  The  King  was  in  despair  at  the 
death  of  his  trusty  general,  and  ended  by  im- 
ploring Mannikin  to  take  the  command  of  the 
army,  and  his  counsel  was  followed  in  all  the 
affairs  of  the  Court.  He  followed  up  his  former 
plan  of  amusing  the  Princess,  and  on  no  ac- 
count reminding  her  of  that  tedious  thing  called 
'  love,'  so  that  she  was  always  glad  to  see  him, 
and  the  winter  slipped  by  gaily  for  both  of 
them. 

The  Prince  was  all  the  while  secretly  making 
plans  for  the  next  campaign  ;  he  received  private 
intelligence  of  the  arrival  of  a  strong  reinforce- 
ment of  Spaniels,  to  whom  he  sent  orders  to 
post  themselves  along  the  frontier  without 
attracting  attention,  and  as  soon  as  he  possibly 
could  he  held  a  consultation  with  their  com- 
mander, who  was  an  old  and  experienced  warrior. 
Following  his  advice,  he  decided  to  have  a 
pitched  battle  as  soon  as  the  enemy  advanced, 


118  HEART  OF  ICE 

and  this  Brandatimor  lost  not  a  moment  in 
doing,  as  he  was  perfectly  persuaded  that  he 
was  now  going  to  make  an  end  of  the  war  and 
utterly  vanquish  Farda-Kinbras.  But  no  sooner 
had  he  given  the  order  to  charge  than  the 
Spaniels,  who  had  mingled  with  his  troops 
unperceived,  leaped  each  upon  the  horse  nearest 
to  him,  and  not  only  threw  the  whole  squadron 
into  confusion  by  the  terror  they  caused,  but, 
springing  at  the  throats  of  the  riders,  unhorsed 
many  of  them  by  the  suddenness  of  their  attack  ; 
then  turning  the  horses  to  the  rear,  they  spread 
consternation  everywhere,  and  made  it  easy  for 
Prince  Mannikin  to  gain  a  complete  victory. 
He  met  Brandatimor  in  single  combat,  and 
succeeded  in  taking  him  prisoner;  but  he  did 
not  live  to  reach  the  Court,  to  which  Mannikin 
had  sent  him:  his  pride  killed  him  at  the  thought 
of  appearing  before  Sabella  under  these  altered 
circumstances.  In  the  meantime  Prince  Fadasse 
and  all  the  others  who  had  remained  behind 
were  setting  out  with  all  speed  for  the  conquest 
of  the  Ice  Mountain,  being  afraid  that  Prince 
Mannikin  might  prove  as  successful  in  that  as 
he  seemed  to  be  in  everything  else,  and  when 


HEART  OF  ICE 


119 


Mannikin  returned  he  heard  of  it  with  great 
annoyance.  True  he  had  been  serving  the 
Princess,  but  she  only  admired  and  praised  him 
for  his  gallant  deeds,  and  seemed  no  whit  nearer 
bestowing  on  him  the  love  he  so  ardently  desired, 
and  all  the  comfort  Mousta  could  give  him 


on  the  subject  was  that  at  least  she  loved  no  one 
else,  and  with  that  he  had  to  content  himself. 
But  he  determined  that,  come  what  might,  he 
would  delay  no  longer,  but  attempt  the  great 
undertaking  for  which  he  had  come  so  far. 
When  he  went  to  take  leave  of  the  King  and 
Queen  they  entreated  him  not  to  go,  as  they 


120  HEART  OF  ICE 

had  just  heard  that  Prince  Fadasse,  and  all  who 
accompanied  him,  had  perished  in  the  snow ; 
but  he  persisted  in  his  resolve.  As  for  Sabella, 
she  gave  him  her  hand  to  kiss  with  precisely  the 
same  gracious  indifference  as  she  had  given  it  to 
him  the  first  time  they  met.  It  happened  that 
this  farewell  took  place  before  the  whole  Court, 
and  so  great  a  favourite  had  Prince  Mannikin 
become  that  they  were  all  indignant  at  the 
coldness  with  which  the  Princess  treated  him. 

Finally  the  King  said  to  him  : 

'Prince,  you  have  constantly  refused  all  the 
gifts  which,  in  my  gratitude  for  your  invaluable 
services,  I  have  offered  to  you,  but  I  wish  the 
Princess  to  present  you  with  her  cloak  of  mar- 
ten's fur,  and  that  I  hope  you  will  not  reject ! ' 
Now  this  was  a  splendid  fur  mantle  which  the 
Princess  was  very  fond  of  wearing,  not  so  much 
because  she  felt  cold,  as  that  its  richness  set  off 
to  perfection  the  delicate  tints  of  her  complexion 
and  the  brilliant  gold  of  her  hair.  However,  she 
took  it  off,  and  with  graceful  politeness  begged 
Prince  Mannikin  to  accept  it,  which  you  may  be 
sure  he  was  charmed  to  do,  and,  taking  only  this 
and  a  little  bundle  of  all  kinds  of  wood,  and 


HEART  OF  ICE  121 

accompanied  only  by  two  spaniels  out  of  the 
fifty  who  had  stayed  with  him  when  the  war 
was  ended,  he  set  forth,  receiving  many  tokens 
of  love  and  favour  from  the  people  in  every 
town  he  passed  through.  At  the  last  little 
village  he  left  his  horse  behind  him,  to  begin  his 
toilful  march  through  the  snow,  which  extended, 
blank  and  terrible,  in  every  direction  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  see.  Here  he  had  appointed  to  meet 
the  other  forty-eight  spaniels,  who  received  him 
joyfully,  and  assured  him  that,  happen  what 
might,  they  would  follow  and  serve  him  faith- 
fully. And  so  they  started,  full  of  heart  and 
hope.  At  first  there  was  a  slight  track,  difficult, 
but  not  impossible  to  follow  ;  but  this  was  soon 
lost,  and  the  Pole  Star  was  their  only  guide. 
When  the  time  came  to  call  a  halt  the  Prince, 
who  had  after  much  consideration  decided  on  his 
plan  of  action,  caused  a  few  twigs  from  the 
faggot  he  had  brought  with  him  to  be  planted  in 
the  snow,  and  then  he  sprinkled  over  them  a 
pinch  of  the  magic  powder  he  had  collected 
from  the  enchanted  boat.  To  his  great  joy  they 
instantly  began  to  sprout  and  grow,  and  in  a 
marvellously  short  time  the  camp  was  surrounded 


122  HEART  OF  ICE 

by  a  perfect  grove  of  trees  of  all  sorts,  which 
blossomed  and  bore  ripe  fruit,  so  that  all  their 
wants  were  easily  supplied,  and  they  were  able 
to  make  huge  fires  to  warm  themselves.  The 
Prince  then  sent  out  several  spaniels  to  recon- 
noitre, and  they  had  the  good  luck  to  discover 
a  horse  laden  with  provisions  stuck  fast  in  the 
snow.  They  at  once  fetched  their  comrades, 
and  brought  the  spoil  triumphantly  into  the 
camp,  and,  as  it  consisted  principally  of  biscuits, 
not  a  spaniel  among  them  went  supperless  to 
sleep.  In  this  way  they  journeyed  by  day  and 
encamped  safely  at  night,  always  remembering 
to  take  on  a  few  branches  to  provide  them  with 
food  and  shelter.  They  passed  by  the  way 
armies  of  those  who  had  set  out  upon  the 
perilous  enterprise,  who  stood  frozen  stiffly, 
without  sense  of  motion  ;  but  Prince  Mannikin 
strictly  forbade  that  any  attempt  should  be  made 
to  thaw  them.  So  they  went  on  and  on  for 
more  than  three  months,  and  day  by  day  the 
Ice  Mountain,  which  they  had  seen  for  a  long 
time,  grew  clearer,  until  at  last  they  stood  close 
to  it,  and  shuddered  at  its  height  and  steepness. 
But  by  patience  and  perseverance  they  crept  up 


HEART  OF  ICE  123 

foot  by  foot,  aided  by  their  fires  of  magic  wood, 
without  which  they  must  have  perished  in  the 
intense  cold,  until  presently  they  stood  at  the 
gates  of  the  magnificent  Ice  Palace  which 
crowned  the  mountain,  where,  in  deadly  silence 
and  icy  sleep,  lay  the  heart  of  Sabella.  Now  the 
difficulty  became  immense,  for  if  they  maintained 
enough  heat  to  keep  themselves  alive  they  were 
in  danger  every  moment  of  melting  the  blocks 
of  solid  ice  of  which  the  palace  was  entirely  built, 
and  bringing  the  whole  structure  down  upon 
their  heads ;  but  cautiously  and  quickly  they 
traversed  courtyards  and  halls,  until  they  found 
themselves  at  the  foot  of  a  vast  throne,  where, 
upon  a  cushion  of  snow,  lay  an  enormous  and 
brilliantly  sparkling  diamond,  which  contained 
the  heart  of  the  lovely  Princess  Sabella.  Upon 
the  lowest  step  of  the  throne  was  inscribed 
in  icy  letters,  *  Whosoever  thou  art  who  by 
courage  and  virtue  canst  win  the  heart  of  Sabella, 
enjoy  peacefully  the  good  fortune  which  thou 
hast  richly  deserved.' 

Prince  Mannikin  bounded  forward,  and  had 
just  strength  left  to  grasp  the  precious  diamond 
which  contained  all  he  coveted  in  the  world 


124  HEART  OF  ICE 

before  he  fell  insensible  upon  the  snowy  cushion. 
But  his  good  spaniels  lost  no  time  in  rushing  to 
the  rescue,  and  between  them  they  bore  him 
hastily  from  the  hall,  and  not  a  moment  too 
soon,  for  all  around  them  they  heard  the  clang 
of  the  falling  blocks  of  ice  as  the  Fairy  Palace 
slowly  collapsed  under  the  unwonted  heat.  Not 
until  they  reached  the  foot  of  the  mountain  did 
they  pause  to  restore  the  Prince  to  conscious- 
ness, and  then  his  joy  to  find  himself  the 
possessor  of  Sabella's  heart  knew  no  bounds. 

With  all  speed  they  began  to  retrace  their 
steps,  but  this  time  the  happy  Prince  could  not 
bear  the  sight  of  his  defeated  and  disappointed 
rivals,  whose  frozen  forms  lined  his  triumphant 
way.  He  gave  orders  to  his  spaniels  to  spare  no 
pains  to  restore  them  to  life,  and  so  successful 
were  they  that  day  by  day  his  train  increased,  so 
that  by  the  time  he  got  back  to  the  little  village 
where  he  had  left  his  horse  he  was  escorted  by 
five  hundred  sovereign  Princes,  and  knights  and 
squires  without  number,  and  he  was  so  courteous 
and  unassuming  that  they  all  followed  him 
willingly,  anxious  to  do  him  honour.  But  then 
he  was  so  happy  and  blissful  himself  that  he 


HEART  OF  ICE 


125 


found  it  easy  to  be  at  peace  with  all  the  world. 
It  was  not  long  before  he  met  the  faithful 
Mousta,  who  was  coming  at  the  top  of  his 
speed  hoping  to  meet  the  Prince,  that  he  might 


tell  him  of  the  sudden  and  wonderful  change 
that  had  come  over  the  Princess,  who  had  be- 
come gentle  and  thoughtful  and  had  talked  to 
him  of  nothing  but  Prince  Mannikin,  of  the 


126  HEART  OF  ICE 

hardships  she  feared  he  might  be  suffering,  and 
of  her  anxiety  for  him,  and  all  this  with  a 
hundred  tender  expressions  which  put  the  finish- 
ing stroke  to  the  Prince's  delight.  Then  came 
a  courier  bearing  the  congratulations  of  the 
King  and  Queen,  who  had  just  heard  of  his 
successful  return,  and  there  was  even  a  graceful 
compliment  from  Sabella  herself.  The  Prince 
sent  Mousta  back  to  her,  and  he  was  welcomed 
with  joy,  for  was  he  not  her  lover's  present  ? 

At  last  the  travellers  reached  the  capital,  and 
were  received  with  regal  magnificence.  Farda- 
Kinbras  and  Birbantine  embraced  Prince  Man- 
nikin,  declaring  that  they  regarded  him  as  their 
heir  and  the  future  husband  of  the  Princess,  to 
which  he  replied  that  they  did  him  too  much 
honour.  And  then  he  was  admitted  into  the 
presence  of  the  Princess,  who  for  the  first  time 
in  her  life  blushed  as  he  kissed  her  hand,  and 
could  not  find  a  word  to  say.  But  the  Prince, 
throwing  himself  on  his  knees  beside  her,  held 
out  the  splendid  diamond,  saying : 

*  Madam,  this  treasure  is  yours,  since  none  of 
the  dangers  and  difficulties  I  have  gone  through 
have  been  sufficient  to  make  me  deserve  it.' 


HEART  OF  ICE  127 

'Ah  !  Prince,'  said  she,  '  if  I  take  it,  it  is  only 
that  I  may  give  it  back  to  you,  since  truly  it 
belongs  to  you  already.' 

At  this  moment  in  came  the  King  and  Queen, 
and  interrupted  them  by  asking  all  the  questions 
imaginable,  and  not  infrequently  the  same  over 
and  over  again.  It  seems  that  there  is  always 
one  thing  that  is  sure  to  be  said  about  an  event 
by  everybody,  and  Prince  Mannikin  found  that 
the  question  which  he  was  asked  by  more  than 
a  thousand  people  on  this  particular  occasion 
was: 

*  And  didn't  you  find  it  very  cold  ? ' 

The  King  had  come  to  request  Prince 
Mannikin  and  the  Princess  to  follow  him  to  the 
Council  Chamber,  which  they  did,  not  knowing 
that  he  meant  to  present  the  Prince  to  all  the 
nobles  assembled  there  as  his  son-in-law  and 
successor.  But  when  Mannikin  perceived  his 
intention,  he  begged  permission  to  speak  first, 
and  told  his  whole  story,  even  to  the  fact  that  he 
believed  himself  to  be  a  peasant's  son.  Scarcely 
had  he  finished  speaking  when  the  sky  grew 
black,  the  thunder  growled,  and  the  lightning 
flashed,  and  in  the  blaze  of  light  the  good  Fairy 


128  HEART  OF  ICE 

Genesta  suddenly  appeared.  Turning  to  Prince 
Mannikin,  she  said: 

*  I  am  satisfied  with  you,  since  you  have  shown 
not  only  courage  but  a  good  heart.'  Then  she 
addressed  King  Farda-Kinbras,  and  informed 
him  of  the  real  history  of  the  Prince,  and  how 
she  had  determined  to  give  him  the  education 
she  knew  would  be  best  for  a  man  who  was  to 
command  others.  '  You  have  already  found  the 
advantage  of  having  a  faithful  friend,'  she  added 
to  the  Prince,  'and  now  you  will  have  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  King  Bayard  and  his  subjects 
regain  their  natural  forms  as  a  reward  for  his 
kindness  to  you.' 

Just  then  arrived  a  chariot  drawn  by  eagles, 
which  proved  to  contain  the  foolish  King  and 
Queen,  who  embraced  their  long-lost  son  with 
great  joy,  and  were  greatly  struck  with  the  fact 
that  they  did  indeed  find  him  covered  with  fur ! 
While  they  were  caressing  Sabella  and  wringing 
her  hands  (which  is  a  favourite  form  of  endear- 
ment with  foolish  people)  chariots  were  seen 
approaching  from  all  points  of  the  compass,  con- 
taining numbers  of  Fairies. 

'  Sire,'  said  Genesta  to  Farda-Kinbras, '  I  have 


HEART  OF  ICE  129 

taken  the  liberty  of  appointing  your  Court  as  a 
meeting-place  for  all  the  Fairies  who  could  spare 
the  time  to  come;  and  I  hope  you  can  arrange 
to  hold  the  great  ball,  which  we  have  once  in  a 
hundred  years,  on  this  occasion.' 

The  King  having  suitably  acknowledged  the 
honour  done  him,  was  next  reconciled  to  Gor- 
gonzola,  and  they  two  presently  opened  the  ball 
together.  The  Fairy  Marsontine  restored  their 
natural  forms  to  King  Bayard  and  all  his  subjects, 
and  he  appeared  once  more  as  handsome  a  king 
as  you  could  wish  to  see.  One  of  the  Fairies 
immediately  despatched  her  chariot  for  the 
Queen  of  the  Spice  Islands,  and  their  wedding 
took  place  at  the  same  time  as  that  of  Prince 
Mannikin  and  the  lovely  and  gracious  Sabella. 
They  lived  happily  ever  afterwards,  and  their 
vast  kingdoms  were  presently  divided  between 
their  children, 

The  Prince,  out  of  grateful  remembrance  of 
the  Princess  Sabella's  first  gift  to  him,  bestowed 
the  right  of  bearing  her  name  upon  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  martens,  and  that  is  why  they 
are  called  sables  to  this  day. 


THE   ENCHANTED   RING 

ONCE  upon  a  time  there  lived  a  young  man 
named  Rosimond,  who  was  as  good  and  hand- 
some as  his  elder  brother  Bramintho  was  ugly 
and  wicked.  Their  mother  detested  her  eldest 
son,  and  had  only  eyes  for  the  youngest.  This 
excited  Bramintho's  jealousy,  and  he  invented  a 
horrible  story  in  order  to  ruin  his  brother.  He 
told  his  father  that  Rosimond  was  in  the  habit 
of  visiting  a  neighbour  who  was  an  enemy  of  the 
family,  and  betraying  to  him  all  that  went  on  in 
the  house,  and  was  plotting  with  him  to  poison 
their  father. 

The  father  flew  into  a  rage,  and  flogged  his 
son  till  the  blood  came.  Then  he  threw  him 
into  prison  and  kept  him  for  three  days  without 
food,  and  after  that  he  turned  him  out  of  the 
house,  and  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  ever  came 
back.  The  mother  was  miserable,  and  did  nothing 
but  weep,  but  she  dared  not  say  anything. 

130 


THE  ENCHANTED  RING  131 

The  youth  left  his  home  with  tears  in  his 
eyes,  not  knowing  where  to  go,  and  wandered 
about  for  many  hours  till  he  came  to  a  thick 
wood.  Night  overtook  him  at  the  foot  of  a  great 
rock,  and  he  fell  asleep  on  a  bank  of  moss,  lulled 
by  the  music  of  a  little  brook. 

It  was  dawn  when  he  woke,  and  he  saw  before 
him  a  beautiful  woman  seated  on  a  grey  horse, 
with  trappings  of  gold,  who  looked  as  if  she 
were  preparing  for  the  hunt. 

'  Have  you  seen  a  stag  and  some  deerhounds 
go  by  ? '  she  asked. 

*  No,  madam,'  he  replied. 

Then  she  added, '  You  look  unhappy  ;  is  there 
anything  the  matter?  Take  this  ring,  which 
will  make  you  the  happiest  and  most  powerful 
of  men,  provided  you  never  make  a  bad  use  of 
it.  If  you  turn  the  diamond  inside,  you  will 
become  invisible.  If  you  turn  it  outside,  you 
will  become  visible  again.  If  you  place  it  on 
your  little  finger,  you  will  take  the  shape  of  the 
King's  son,  followed  by  a  splendid  Court.  If  you 
put  it  on  your  fourth  finger,  you  will  take  your 
own  shape.' 

Then  the  young  man  understood  that  it  was  a 


132 


THE  ENCHANTED   RING 


Fairy  who  was  speaking  to  him,  and  when  she 
had  finished  she  plunged  into  the  woods.  The 
youth  was  very  impatient  to  try  the  ring,  and 
returned  home  immediately.  He  found  that 
the  Fairy  had  spoken  the  truth,  and  that  he  could 


see  and  hear  everything,  while  he  himself  was 
unseen.  It  lay  with  him  to  revenge  himself,  if 
he  chose,  on  his  brother,  without  the  slightest 
danger  to  himself,  and  he  told  no  one  but  his 
mother  of  all  the  strange  things  that  had  be- 


THE  ENCHANTED  RING  133 

fallen  him.  He  afterwards  put  the  enchanted 
ring  on  his  little  ringer,  and  appeared  as  the 
King's  son,  followed  by  a  hundred  fine  horses 
and  a  guard  of  officers  all  richly  dressed.  His 
father  was  much  surprised  to  see  the  King's 
son  in  his  quiet  little  house,  and  he  felt  rather 
embarrassed,  not  knowing  what  was  the  proper 
way  to  behave  on  such  a  grand  occasion.  Then 
Rosimond  asked  him  how  many  sons  he  had. 

'  Two,'  replied  he. 

'  I  wish  to  see  them,'  said  Rosimond.  '  Send 
for  them  at  once.  I  desire  to  take  them  both  to 
Court,  in  order  to  make  their  fortunes.' 

The  father  hesitated,  then  answered  :  '  Here  is 
the  eldest,  whom  I  have  the  honour  to  present 
to  your  Highness.' 

'  But  where  is  the  youngest  ?  I  wish  to  see 
him,  too,'  persisted  Rosimond. 

'  He  is  not  here,'  said  the  father.  *  I  had  to 
punish  him  for  a  fault,  and  he  has  run  away.' 

Then  Rosimond  replied,  '  You  should  have 
shown  him  what  was  right,  but  not  have  punished 
him.  However,  let  the  elder  come  with  me,  and 
as  for  you,  follow  these  two  guards,  who  will  escort 
you  to  a  place  that  I  will  point  out  to  them.' 


134  THE   ENCHANTED   RING 

Then  the  two  guards  led  off  the  father,  and 
the  Fairy  of  whom  you  have  heard  found  him  in 
the  forest,  and  beat  him  with  a  golden  birch  rod, 
and  cast  him  into  a  cave  that  was  very  deep  and 
dark,  where  he  lay  enchanted.  '  Lie  there,'  she 
said,  '  till  your  son  comes  to  take  you  out  again.' 

Meanwhile  the  son  went  to  the  King's  palace, 
and  arrived  just  when  the  real  prince  was  ab- 
sent. He  had  sailed  away  to  make  war  on  a 
distant  island,  but  the  winds  had  been  contrary, 
and  he  had  been  shipwrecked  on  unknown 
shores,  and  taken  captive  by  a  savage  people. 
Rosimond  made  his  appearance  at  Court  in  the 
character  of  the  Prince,  whom  everyone  wept 
for  as  lost,  and  told  them  that  he  had  been 
rescued  when  at  the  point  of  death  by  some 
merchants.  His  return  was  the  signal  for  great 
public  rejoicings,  and  the  King  was  so  overcome 
that  he  became  quite  speechless,  and  did  nothing 
but  embrace  his  son.  The  Queen  was  even 
more  delighted,  and  fetes  were  ordered  over  the 
whole  kingdom. 

One  day  the  false  Prince  said  to  his  real 
brother,  *  Bramintho,  you  know  that  I  brought 
you  here  from  your  native  village  in  order  to 


THE   ENCHANTED  RING  135 

make  your  fortune ;  but  I  have  found  out  that 
you  are  a  liar,  and  that  by  your  deceit  you 
have  been  the  cause  of  all  the  troubles  of  your 
brother  Rosimond.  He  is  in  hiding  here,  and  I 
desire  that  you  shall  speak  to  him,  and  listen  to 
his  reproaches.' 

Bramintho  trembled  at  these  words,  and,  fling- 
ing himself  at  the  Prince's  feet,  confessed  his 
crime. 

*  That  is  not  enough,'  said  Rosimond.  *  It  is 
to  your  brother  that  you  must  confess,  and  I 
desire  that  you  shall  ask  his  forgiveness.  He 
will  be  very  generous  if  he  grants  it,  and  it  will 
be  more  than  you  deserve.  He  is  in  my  ante- 
room, where  you  shall  see  him  at  once.  I  my- 
self will  retire  into  another  apartment,  so  as  to 
leave  you  alone  with  him.' 

Bramintho  entered,  as  he  was  told,  into  the 
ante-room.  Then  Rosimond  changed  the  ring, 
and  passed  into  the  room  by  another  door. 

Bramintho  was  filled  with  shame  as  soon  as 
he  saw  his  brother's  face.  He  implored  his  par- 
don, and  promised  to  atone  for  all  his  faults. 
Rosimond  embraced  him  with  tears,  and  at  once 
forgave  him,  adding,  *  I  am  in  great  favour  with 


136  THE   ENCHANTED   RING 

the  King.  It  rests  with  me  to  have  your  head 
cut  off,  or  to  condemn  you  to  pass  the  remainder 
of  your  life  in  prison  ;  but  I  desire  to  be  as  good 
to  you  as  you  have  been  wicked  to  me.'  Bra- 
mintho,  confused  and  ashamed,  listened  to  his 
words  without  daring  to  lift  his  eyes  or  to  re- 
mind Rosimond  that  he  was  his  brother.  After 
this,  Rosimond  gave  out  that  he  was  going  to 
make  a  secret  voyage,  to  marry  a  Princess  who 
lived  in  a  neighbouring  kingdom  ;  but  in  reality 
he  only  went  to  see  his  mother,  whom  he  told  all 
that  had  happened  at  the  Court,  giving  her  at 
the  same  time  some  money  that  she  needed,  for 
the  King  allowed  him  to  take  exactly  what  he 
liked,  though  he  was  always  careful  not  to  abuse 
this  permission.  Just  then  a  furious  war  broke 
out  between  the  King  his  master  and  the  Sover- 
eign of  the  adjoining  country,  who  was  a  bad 
man  and  one  that  never  kept  his  word.  Rosi- 
mond went  straight  to  the  palace  of  the  wicked 
King,  and  by  means  of  his  ring  was  able  to  be 
present  at  all  the  councils,  and  learnt  all  their 
schemes,  so  that  he  was  able  to  forestall  them 
and  bring  them  to  naught.  He  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  which  was  brought  against 


THE  ENCHANTED  RING  137 

the  wicked  King,  and  defeated  him  in  a  glorious 
battle,  so  that  peace  was  at  once  concluded  on 
conditions  that  were  just  to  everyone. 

Henceforth  the  King's  one  idea  was  to  marry 
the  young  man  to  a  Princess  who  was  the  heiress 
to  a  neighbouring  kingdom,  and,  besides  that, 
was  as  lovely  as  the  day.  But  one  morning, 
while  Rosimond  was  hunting  in  the  forest  where 
for  the  first  time  he  had  seen  the  Fairy,  his 
benefactress  suddenly  appeared  before  him. 
'Take  heed,'  she  said  to  him  in  severe  tones, 
'  that  you  do  not  marry  anybody  who  believes 
you  to  be  a  prince.  You  must  never  deceive 
anyone.  The  real  Prince,  whom  the  whole 
nation  thinks  you  are,  will  have  to  succeed  his 
father,  for  that  is  just  and  right.  Go  and  seek 
him  in  some  distant  island,  and  I  will  send  winds 
that  will  swell  your  sails  and  bring  you  to  him. 
Hasten  to  render  this  service  to  your  master, 
although  it  is  against  your  own  ambition,  and 
prepare,  like  an  honest  man,  to  return  to  your 
natural  state.  If  you  do  not  do  this,  you  will 
become  wicked  and  unhappy,  and  I  will  abandon 
you  to  all  your  former  troubles.' 

Rosimond  took  these  wise  counsels  to  heart. 


138  THE  ENCHANTED  RING 

He  gave  out  that  he  had  undertaken  a  secret 
mission  to  a  neighbouring  state,  and  embarked 
on  board  a  vessel,  the  winds  carrying  him 
straight  to  the  island  where  the  Fairy  had  told 
him  he  would  find  the  real  Prince.  This  un- 
fortunate youth  had  been  taken  captive  by  a 
savage  people,  who  had  kept  him  to  guard  their 
sheep.  Rosimond,  becoming  invisible,  went  to 
seek  him  amongst  the  pastures,  where  he  kept 
his  flock,  and,  covering  him  with  his  mantle,  he 
delivered  him  out  of  the  hands  of  his  cruel 
masters,  and  bore  him  back  to  the  ship.  Other 
winds  sent  by  the  Fairy  swelled  the  sails,  and 
together  the  two  young  men  entered  the  King's 
presence. 

Rosimond  spoke  first  and  said,  'You  have 
believed  me  to  be  your  son.  I  am  not  he,  but 
I  have  brought  him  back  to  you.1  The  King, 
filled  with  astonishment,  turned  to  his  real  son 
and  asked,  '  Was  it  not  you,  my  son,  who  con- 
quered my  enemies  and  won  such  a  glorious 
peace  ?  Or  is  it  true  that  you  have  been  ship- 
wrecked and  taken  captive,  and  that  Rosimond 
has  set  you  free  ? ' 

'  Yes,  my  father,'  replied  the  Prince.     '  It  is 


THE  ENCHANTED  RING  139 

he  who  sought  me  out  in  my  captivity  and  set 
me  free,  and  to  him  I  owe  the  happiness  of 
seeing  you  once  more.  It  was  he,  not  I,  who 
gained  the  victory.' 

The  King  could  hardly  believe  his  ears ;  but 
Rosimond,  turning  the  ring,  appeared  before  him 
in  the  likeness  of  the  Prince,  and  the  King 
gazed  distractedly  at  the  two  youths  who 
seemed  both  to  be  his  son.  Then  he  offered 
Rosimond  immense  rewards  for  his  services, 
which  were  refused,  and  the  only  favour  the 
young  man  would  accept  was  that  one  of  his 
posts  at  Court  should  be  conferred  on  his 
brother  Bramintho.  For  he  feared  for  himself 
the  changes  of  fortune,  the  envy  of  mankind 
and  his  own  weakness.  His  desire  was  to  go 
back  to  his  mother  and  his  native  village,  and 
to  spend  his  time  in  cultivating  the  land. 

One  day,  when  he  was  wandering  through 
the  woods,  he  met  the  Fairy,  who  showed  him 
the  cavern  where  his  father  was  imprisoned,  and 
told  him  what  words  he  must  use  in  order  to 
set  him  free.  He  repeated  them  joyfully,  for 
he  had  always  longed  to  bring  the  old  man  back 
and  to  make  his  last  days  happy.  Rosimond 


140  THE  ENCHANTED  RING 

thus  became  the  benefactor  of  all  his  family,  and 
had  the  pleasure  of  doing  good  to  those  who 
had  wished  to  do  him  evil.  As  for  the  Court, 
to  whom  he  had  rendered  such  services,  all  he 
asked  was  the  freedom  to  live  far  from  its 
corruption;  and,  to  crown  all,  fearing  that  if 
he  kept  the  ring  he  might  be  tempted  to  use 
it  in  order  to  regain  his  lost  place  in  the  world, 
he  made  up  his  mind  to  restore  it  to  the  Fairy. 
For  many  days  he  sought  her  up  and  down  the 
woods  and  at  last  he  found  her.  '  I  want  to 
give  you  back,'  he  said,  holding  out  the  ring, 
'  a  gift  as  dangerous  as  it  is  powerful,  and  which 
I  fear  to  use  wrongfully.  I  shall  never  feel  safe 
till  I  have  made  it  impossible  for  me  to  leave 
my  solitude  and  to  satisfy  my  passions.' 

While  Rosimond  was  seeking  to  give  back 
the  ring  to  the  Fairy,  Bramintho,  who  had 
failed  to  learn  any  lessons  from  experience,  gave 
way  to  all  his  desires,  and  tried  to  persuade  the 
Prince,  lately  become  King,  to  ill-treat  Rosi- 
mond. But  the  Fairy,  who  knew  all  about 
everything,  said  to  Rosimond,  when  he  was 
imploring  her  to  accept  the  ring : 

'Your  wicked   brother  is  doing  his  best  to 


THE  ENCHANTED  RING  141 

poison  the  mind  of  the  King  towards  you,  and 
to  ruin  you.  He  deserves  to  be  punished,  and 
he  must  die ;  and  in  order  that  he  may  destroy 
himself,  I  shall  give  the  ring  to  him.' 

Rosimond  wept  at  these  words,  and  then 
asked : 

*  What  do  you  mean  by  giving  him  the  ring 
as  a  punishment?  He  will  only  use  it  to 
persecute  everyone,  and  to  become  master.' 

'The  same  things,'  answered  the  Fairy,  'are 
often  a  healing  medicine  to  one  person  and  a 
deadly  poison  to  another.  Prosperity  is  the 
source  of  all  evil  to  a  naturally  wicked  man. 
If  you  wish  to  punish  a  scoundrel,  the  first 
thing  to  do  is  to  give  him  power.  You  will  see 
that  with  this  rope  he  will  soon  hang  himself.' 

Having  said  this,  she  disappeared,  and  went 
straight  to  the  palace,  where  she  showed  herself 
to  Bramintho  under  the  disguise  of  an  old 
woman  covered  with  rags.  She  at  once  ad- 
dressed him  in  these  words : 

'I  have  taken  this  ring  from  the  hands  of 
your  brother,  to  whom  I  had  lent  it,  and  by  its 
help  he  covered  himself  with  glory.  I  now  give 
it  to  you,  and  be  careful  what  you  do  with  it.' 


142  THE  ENCHANTED  RING 

Bramintho  replied  with  a  laugh  : 

*  I  shall  certainly  not  imitate  my  brother,  who 
was  foolish  enough  to  bring  back  the  Prince 
instead  of  reigning  in  his  place,'  and  he  was  as 
good  as  his  word.  The  only  use  he  made  of  the 
ring  was  to  find  out  family  secrets  and  betray 
them,  to  commit  murders  and  every  sort  of 
wickedness,  and  to  gain  wealth  for  himself 
unlawfully.  All  these  crimes,  which  could  be 
traced  to  nobody,  filled  the  people  with  astonish- 
ment. The  King,  seeing  so  many  affairs,  public 
and  private,  exposed,  was  at  first  as  puzzled  as 
anyone,  till  Bramintho's  wonderful  prosperity 
and  amazing  insolence  made  him  suspect  that 
the  enchanted  ring  had  become  his  property. 
In  order  to  find  out  the  truth  he  bribed  a 
stranger  just  arrived  at  Court,  one  of  a  nation 
with  whom  the  King  was  always  at  war,  and 
arranged  that  he  was  to  steal  in  the  night  to 
Bramintho  and  to  offer  him  untold  honours  and 
rewards  if  he  would  betray  the  State  secrets. 

Bramintho  promised  everything,  and  accepted 
at  once  the  first  payment  of  his  crime,  boasting 
that  he  had  a  ring  which  rendered  him  invisible, 
and  that  by  means  of  it  he  could  penetrate  into 


THE   ENCHANTED  RING 


143 


the  most  private  places.  But  his  triumph  was 
short.  Next  day  he  was  seized  by  order  of  the 
King,  and  his  ring  was  taken  from  him.  He 


was  searched,  and  on  him  were  found  papers 
which  proved  his  crimes  ;  and,  though  Rosimond 
himself  came  back  to  the  Court  to  entreat  his 


144  THE  ENCHANTED  RING 

pardon,  it  was  refused.  So  Bramintho  was  put 
to  death,  and  the  ring  had  been  even  more  fatal 
to  him  than  it  had  been  useful  in  the  hands  of 
his  brother. 

To  console  Rosimond  for  the  fate  of  Bra- 
mintho, the  King  gave  him  back  the  enchanted 
ring,  as  a  pearl  without  price.  The  unhappy 
Rosimond  did  not  look  upon  it  in  the  same  light, 
and  the  first  thing  he  did  on  his  return  home  was 
to  seek  the  Fairy  in  the  woods. 

'  Here,'  he  said,  *  is  your  ring.  My  brother's 
experience  has  made  me  understand  many  things 
that  I  did  not  know  before.  Keep  it,  it  has 
only  led  to  his  destruction.  Ah  !  without  it  he 
would  be  alive  now,  and  my  father  and  mother 
would  not  in  their  old  age  be  bowed  to  the  earth 
with  shame  and  grief!  Perhaps  he  might  have 
been  wise  and  happy  if  he  had  never  had  the 
chance  of  gratifying  his  wishes !  Oh  1  how 
dangerous  it  is  to  have  more  power  than  the  rest 
of  the  world  1  Take  back  your  ring,  and  as  ill 
fortune  seems  to  follow  all  on  whom  you  bestow 
it,  I  will  implore  you,  as  a  favour  to  myself,  that 
you  will  never  give  it  to  anyone  who  is  dear  to 
me.' 


THE   SNUFF-BOX 

As  often  happens  in  this  world,  there  was  once 
a  young  man  who  spent  all  his  time  in  travelling. 
One  day,  as  he  was  walking  along,  he  picked  up 
a  snuff-box.  He  opened  it,  and  the  snuff-box 
said  to  him  in  the  Spanish  language,  *  What  do 
you  want  ? '  He  was  very  much  frightened,  but 
luckily,  instead  of  throwing  the  box  away,  he 
only  shut  it  tight,  and  put  it  in  his  pocket.  Then 
he  went  on,  away,  away,  away,  and  as  he  went  he 
said  to  himself,  '  If  it  says  to  me  again,  "  What 
do  you  want  ? "  I  shall  know  better  what  to  say 
this  time.'  So  he  took  out  the  snuff-box  and 
opened  it;  and  again  it  asked,  'What  do  you 
want?'  'My  hat  full  of  gold,'  answered  the 
youth,  and  immediately  it  was  full. 

Our  young  man  was  enchanted.  Henceforth 
he  should  never  be  in  need  of  anything.  So  on 
he  travelled,  away,  away,  away,  through  thick 
forests,  till  at  last  he  came  to  a  beautiful  castle. 

143 


146 


THE  SNUFF-BOX 


In  the  castle  there  lived  a  King.  The  young 
man  walked  round  and  round  the  castle,  not 
caring  who  saw  him,  till  the  King  noticed  him, 


and  asked  what  he  was  doing  there.  '  1  was  just 
looking  at  "your  castle.'  '  You  would  like  to 
have  one  like  it,  wouldn't  you  ? '  The  young 
man  did  not  reply,  but  when  it  grew  dark  he 


THE  SNUFF-BOX  H7 

took  his  snuff-box  and  opened  the  lid.  '  What 
do  you  want  ? '  '  Build  me  a  castle  with  laths  of 
gold  and  tiles  of  diamond,  and  the  furniture  all 
of  silver  and  gold.'  He  had  scarcely  finished 
speaking  when  there  stood  in  front  of  him, 
exactly  opposite  the  King's  palace,  a  castle  built 
precisely  as  he  had  ordered.  When  the  King 
awoke  he  was  struck  dumb  at  the  sight  of  the 
magnificent  house  shining  in  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
The  servants  could  not  do  their  work  for  stopping 
to  stare  at  it.  Then  the  King  dressed  himself, 
and  went  to  see  the  young  man.  And  he  told 
him  plainly  that  he  was  a  very  powerful  Prince  ; 
and  that  he  hoped  that  they  might  all  live  together 
in  one  house  or  the  other,  and  that  the  King 
would  give  him  his  daughter  to  wife.  So  it  all 
turned  out  just  as  the  King  wished.  The  young 
man  married  the  Princess,  and  they  lived  happily 
in  the  palace  of  gold. 

But  the  King's  wife  was  jealous  both  of  the 
young  man  and  of  her  own  daughter.  The 
Princess  had  told  her  mother  about  the  snuff- 
box, which  gave  them  everything  they  wanted, 
and  the  Queen  bribed  a  servant  to  steal  the  snuff- 
box. They  noticed  carefully  where  it  was  put 


148  THE   SNUFF-BOX 

away  every  night,  and  one  evening,  when  the 
whole  world  was  asleep,  the  woman  stole  it  and 
brought  it  to  her  old  mistress.  Oh,  how  happy 
the  Queen  was !  She  opened  the  lid,  and  the 
snuff-box  said  to  her,  'What  do  you  want?' 
And  she  answered  at  once,  *  I  want  you  to  take 
me  and  my  husband  and  my  servants  and  this 
beautiful  house  and  set  us  down  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Red  Sea,  but  my  daughter  and  her 
husband  are  to  stay  behind.' 

When  the  young  couple  woke  up,  they  found 
themselves  back  in  the  old  castle,  without  their 
snuff-box.  They  hunted  for  it  high  and  low,  but 
quite  vainly.  The  young  man  felt  that  no  time 
was  to  be  lost,  and  he  mounted  his  horse  and 
filled  his  pockets  with  as  much  gold  as  he  could 
carry.  On  he  went,  away,  away,  away,  but  he 
sought  the  snuff-box  in  vain  all  up  and  down  the 
neighbouring  countries,  and  very  soon  he  came 
to  the  end  of  all  his  money.  But  still  he  went 
on,  as  fast  as  the  strength  of  his  horse  would  let 
him,  begging  his  way. 

Someone  told  him  that  he  ought  to  consult 
the  moon,  for  the  moon  travelled  far,  and  might 
be  able  to  tell  him  something.  So  he  went  away, 


THE   SNUFF-BOX  149 

away,  away,  and  ended,  somehow  or  other,  by 
reaching  the  land  of  the  moon.  There  he  found 
a  little  old  woman,  who  said  to  him,  *  What  are 
you  doing  here  ?  My  son  eats  all  living  things  he 
sees,  and  if  you  are  wise,  you  will  go  away  without 
coming  any  further.'  But  the  young  man  told 
her  all  his  sad  tale,  and  how  he  possessed  a 
wonderful  snuff-box,  and  how  it  had  been  stolen 
from  him,  and  how  he  had  nothing  left,  now  that 
he  was  parted  from  his  wife  and  was  in  need  of 
everything.  And  he  said  that  perhaps  her  son, 
who  travelled  so  far,  might  have  seen  a  palace 
with  laths  of  gold  and  tiles  of  diamond,  and 
furnished  all  in  silver  and  gold.  As  he  spoke 
these  last  words,  the  moon  came  in  and  said  he 
smelt  mortal  flesh  and  blood.  But  his  mother 
told  him  that  it  was  an  unhappy  man  who  had 
lost  everything,  and  had  come  all  this  way  to 
consult  him,  and  bade  the  young  man  not  to  be 
afraid,  but  to  come  forward  and  show  himself. 
So  he  went  boldly  up  to  the  moon,  and  asked  if 
by  any  accident  he  had  seen  a  palace  with  the 
laths  of  gold  and  the  tiles  of  diamond,  and  all 
the  furniture  of  silver  and  gold.  Once  this 
house  belonged  to  him,  but  now  it  was  stolen. 


150  THE   SNUFF-BOX 

And  the  moon  said  no,  but  that  the  sun  travelled 
farther  than  he  did,  and  that  the  young  man  had 
better  go  and  ask  him. 


So  the  young  man  departed,  and  went  away, 
away,  away,  as  well  as  his  horse  would  take  him, 


THE   SNUFF-BOX  151 

begging  his  living  as  he  rode  along,  and,  some- 
how or  other,  at  last  he  got  to  the  land  of  the 
sun.  There  he  found  a  little  old  woman,  who 
asked  him,  '  What  are  you  doing  here  ?  Go 
away.  Have  you  not  heard  that  my  son  feeds 
upon  Christians  ? '  But  he  said  no,  and  that  he 
would  not  go,  for  he  was  so  miserable  that  it  was 
all  one  to  him  whether  he  died  or  not ;  that  he 
had  lost  everything,  and  especially  a  splendid 
palace  like  none  other  in  the  whole  world,  for  it 
had  laths  of  gold  and  tiles  of  diamond,  and  all 
the  furniture  was  of  silver  and  gold.  And  that 
he  had  sought  it  far  and  long,  and  in  all  the 
earth  there  was  no  man  more  unhappy.  So  the 
old  woman's  heart  melted,  and  she  agreed  to 
hide  him. 

When  the  sun  arrived,  he  declared  that  he 
smelt  Christian  flesh,  and  he  meant  to  have  it  for 
his  dinner.  But  his  mother  told  him  such  a 
pitiful  story  of  the  miserable  wretch  who  had 
lost  everything,  and  had  come  from  far  to  ask 
his  help,  that  at  last  he  promised  to  see  him. 

So  the  young  man  came  out  from  his  hiding- 
place  and  begged  the  sun  to  tell  him  if  in  the 
course  of  his  travels  he  had  not  seen  somewhere 


152  THE  SNUFF-BOX 

a  palace  that  had  not  its  like  in  the  whole  world, 
for  its  laths  were  of  gold  and  its  tiles  of  diamond, 
and  all  the  furniture  in  silver  and  gold. 

And  the  sun  said  no,  but  that  perhaps  the 
wind  had  seen  it,  for  he  entered  everywhere,  and 
saw  things  that  no  one  else  ever  saw,  and  if 
anyone  knew  where  it  was,  it  was  certainly 
the  wind. 

Then  the  poor  young  man  again  set  forth  as 
well  as  his  horse  could  take  him,  begging  his 
living  as  he  went,  and,  somehow  or  other,  he 
ended  by  reaching  the  home  of  the  wind.  He 
found  there  a  little  old  woman  busily  occupied 
in  filling  great  barrels  with  water.  She  asked 
him  what  had  put  it  into  his  head  to  come  there, 
for  her  son  ate  everything  he  saw,  and  that  he 
would  shortly  arrive  quite  mad,  and  that  the 
young  man  had  better  look  out.  But  he 
answered  that  he  was  so  unhappy  that  he  had 
ceased  to  mind  anything,  even  being  eaten,  and 
then  he  told  her  that  he  had  been  robbed  of  a 
palace  that  had  not  its  equal  in  all  the  world, 
and  of  all  that  was  in  it,  and  that  he  had  even 
left  his  wife,  and  was  wandering  over  the  world 
until  he  found  it.  And  that  it  was  the  sun  who 


THE  SNUFF-BOX  153 

had  sent  him  to  consult  the  wind.  So  she  hid 
him  under  the  staircase,  and  soon  they  heard  the 
south  wind  arrive,  shaking  the  house  to  its 
foundations.  Thirsty  as  he  was,  he  did  not  wait 
to  drink,  but  he  told  his  mother  that  he  smelt 
the  blood  of  a  Christian  man,  and  that  she  had 
better  bring  him  out  at  once  and  make  him 
ready  to  be  eaten.  But  she  bade  her  son  eat  and 
drink  what  was  before  him,  and  said  that  the 
poor  young  man  was  much  to  be  pitied,  and  that 
the  sun  had  granted  him  his  life  in  order  that  he 
might  consult  the  wind.  Then  she  brought  out 
the  young  man,  who  explained  how  he  was 
seeking  for  his  palace,  and  that  no  man  had  been 
able  to  tell  him  where  it  was,  so  he  had  come  to 
the  wind.  And  he  added  that  he  had  been 
shamefully  robbed,  and  that  the  laths  were  of 
gold  and  the  tiles  of  diamond,  and  all  the 
furniture  in  silver  and  gold,  and  he  inquired  if 
the  wind  had  not  seen  such  a  palace  during  his 
wanderings. 

And  the  wind  said  yes,  and  that  all  that  day 
he  had  been  blowing  backwards  and  forwards 
over  it  without  being  able  to  move  one  single 
tile.  'Oh,  do  tell  me  where  it  is,'  cried  the 


154  THE   SNUFF-BOX 

young  man.  '  It  is  a  long  way  off,'  replied  the 
wind,  '  on  the  other  side  of  the  Red  Sea.'  But 
our  traveller  was  not  discouraged,  he  had 
already  journeyed  too  far. 

So  he  set  forth  at  once,  and,  somehow  or 
other,  he  managed  to  reach  that  distant  land. 
And  he  inquired  if  anyone  wanted  a  gardener. 
He  was  told  that  the  head  gardener  at  the  castle 
had  just  left,  and  perhaps  he  might  have  a  chance 
of  getting  the  place.  The  young  man  lost  no 
time,  but  walked  up  to  the  castle  and  asked  if 
they  were  in  want  of  a  gardener  ;  and  how  happy 
he  was  when  they  agreed  to  take  him  1  Now  he 
passed  most  of  his  day  in  gossiping  with  the 
servants  about  the  wealth  of  their  master  and 
the  wonderful  things  in  the  house.  He  made 
friends  with  one  of  the  maids,  who  told  him  the 
history  of  the  snuff-box,  and  he  coaxed  her  to 
let  him  see  it.  One  evening  she  managed  to  get 
hold  of  it,  and  the  young  man  watched  carefully 
where  she  hid  it  away,  in  a  secret  place  in  the 
bedchamber  of  her  mistress. 

The  following  night,  when  everyone  was  fast 
asleep,  he  crept  in  and  took  the  snuff-box. 
Think  of  his  joy  as  he  opened  the  lid  1  When  it 


THE  SNUFF-BOX  155 

asked  him,  as  of  yore,  *  What  do  you  want  ? '  he 
replied :  «  What  do  I  want  ?  What  do  I  want  ? 
Why,  I  want  to  go  with  my  palace  to  the  old 
place,  and  for  the  King  and  the  Queen  and  all 
their  servants  to  be  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea.' 
He  had  hardly  finished  speaking  when  he  found 
himself  back  again  with  his  wife,  while  all  the 
other  inhabitants  of  the  place  were  lying  at  the 
bottom  of  the  Red  Sea. 


THE    GOLDEN    BLACKBIRD 

ONCE  upon  a  time  there  was  a  great  lord  who 
had  three  sons.  He  fell  very  ill,  sent  for  doctors 
of  every  kind,  even  bone-setters,  but  they,  none 
of  them,  could  find  out  what  was  the  matter 
with  him,  or  even  give  him  any  relief.  At  last 
there  came  a  foreign  doctor,  who  declared  that 
the  Golden  Blackbird  alone  could  cure  the  sick 
man. 

So  the  old  lord  despatched  his  eldest  son  to 
look  for  the  wonderful  bird,  and  promised  him 
great  riches  if  he  managed  to  find  it  and  bring 
it  back. 

The  young  man  began  his  journey,  and  soon 
arrived  at  a  place  where  four  roads  met.  He 
did  not  know  which  to  choose,  and  tossed  his 
cap  in  the  air,  determining  that  the  direction 
of  its  fall  should  decide  him.  After  travelling 
for  two  or  three  days,  he  grew  tired  of  walking 
without  knowing  where  or  for  how  long,  and  he 
MM 


THE   GOLDEN  BLACKBIRD  157 

stopped  at  an  inn  which  was  filled  with  merry- 
makers and  ordered  something  to  eat  and  drink. 

'  My  faith,'  said  he,  *  it  is  sheer  folly  to  waste 
more  time  hunting  for  this  bird.  My  father  is 
old,  and  if  he  dies  I  shall  inherit  his  goods.' 

The  old  man,  after  waiting  patiently  for  some 
time,  sent  his  second  son  to  seek  the  Golden 
Blackbird.  The  youth  took  the  same  direction 
as  his  brother,  and  when  he  came  to  the  cross 
roads,  he  too  tossed  up  which  road  he  should 
take.  The  cap  fell  in  the  same  place  as  before, 
and  he  walked  on  till  he  came  to  the  spot  where 
his  brother  had  halted.  The  latter,  who  was 
leaning  out  of  the  window  of  the  inn,  called  to 
him  to  stay  where  he  was  and  amuse  himself. 

'You  are  right,'  replied  the  youth.  'Who 
knows  if  I  should  ever  find  the  Golden  Black- 
bird, even  if  I  sought  the  whole  world  through 
for  it  ?  At  the  worst,  if  the  old  man  dies,  we 
shall  have  his  property.' 

He  entered  the  inn  and  the  two  brothers 
made  merry  and  feasted,  till  very  soon  their 
money  was  all  spent.  They  even  owed  some- 
thing to  their  landlord,  who  kept  them  as 
hostages  till  they  could  pay  their  debts. 


158  THE   GOLDEN   BLACKBIRD 

The  youngest  son  set  forth  in  his  turn,  and 
he  arrived  at  the  place  where  his  brothers  were 
still  prisoners.  They  called  to  him  to  stop,  and 
did  all  they  could  to  prevent  his  going  further. 

'  No,'  he  replied,  '  my  father  trusted  me,  and 
I  will  go  all  over  the  world  till  I  find  the 
Golden  Blackbird.' 

'Bah,'  said  his  brothers,  'you  will  never 
succeed  any  better  than  we  did.  Let  him  die 
if  he  wants  to  ;  we  will  divide  the  property.' 

As  he  went  his  way  he  met  a  little  hare,  who 
stopped  to  look  at  him,  and  asked  : 

'  Where  are  you  going,  my  friend  ? ' 

'I  really  don't  quite  know,'  answered  he. 
'  My  father  is  ill,  and  he  cannot  be  cured  unless 
I  bring  him  back  the  Golden  Blackbird.  It  is 
a  long  time  since  I  set  out,  but  no  one  can  tell 
me  where  to  find  it.' 

'Ah,'  said  the  hare,  'you.  have  a  long  way  to 
go  yet.  You  will  have  to  walk  at  least  seven 
hundred  miles  before  you  get  to  it.' 

'And  how  am  I  to  travel  such  a  distance  ? ' 

'  Mount  on  my  back,'  said  the  little  hare, '  and 
I  will  conduct  you.' 

The  young  man  obeyed :  at  each  bound  the 


THE  GOLDEN  BLACKBIRD  159 

little  hare  went  seven  miles,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  they  reached  a  castle  that  was  as  large 
and  beautiful  as  a  castle  could  be. 

*  The  Golden  Blackbird  is  in  a  little  cabin  near 
by,'  said  the  little  hare,  '  and  you  will  easily  find 
it.     It  lives  in  a  little  cage,  with  another  cage 
beside  it  made  all  of  gold.     But  whatever  you 
do,  be  sure  not  to  put  it  in  the  beautiful  cage, 
or  everybody  in  the  castle  will  know  that  you 
have  stolen  it.' 

The  youth  found  the  Golden  Blackbird  stand- 
ing on  a  wooden  perch,  but  as  stiff  and  rigid  as 
if  he  were  dead.  And  beside  the  beautiful  cage 
was  the  cage  of  gold. 

'Perhaps  he  would  revive  if  I  were  to  put 
him  in  that  lovely  cage,'  thought  the  youth. 

The  moment  that  Golden  Bird  had  touched 
the  bars  of  the  splendid  cage  he  awoke,  and 
began  to  whistle,  so  that  all  the  servants  of  the 
castle  ran  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  saying 
that  he  was  a  thief  and  must  be  put  in  prison. 

*  No,'  he  answered,  *  I  am  not  a  thief.    If  I  have 
taken  the  Golden  Blackbird,  it  is  only  that  it  may 
cure  my  father,  who  is  ill,  and  I  have  travelled 
more  than  seven  hundred  miles  in  order  to  find  it.' 


160  THE   GOLDEN   BLACKBIRD 

'  Well,'  they  replied,  '  we  will  let  you  go,  and 
will  even  give  you  the  Golden  Bird,  if  you  are 
able  to  bring  us  the  Porcelain  Maiden.' 

The  youth  departed,  weeping,  and  met  the 
little  hare,  who  was  munching  wild  thyme. 

*  What  are  you  crying  for,  my  friend  ? '  asked 
the  hare. 

*  It  is  because,'  he  answered, '  the  castle  people 
will  not  allow   me  to   carry  off   the   Golden 
Blackbird   without  giving  them  the  Porcelain 
Maiden  in  exchange.' 

*  You  have  not  followed  my  advice,'  said  the 
little   hare.      'And  you  have  put  the  Golden 
Bird  into  the  fine  cage.' 

« Alas !  yes  ! ' 

'  Don't  despair !  the  Porcelain  Maiden  is  a 
young  girl,  beautiful  as  Venus,  who  dwells  two 
hundred  miles  from  here.  Jump  on  my  back 
and  I  will  take  you  there.' 

The  little  hare,  who  took  seven  miles  in  a 
stride,  was  there  in  no  time  at  all,  and  he  stopped 
on  the  borders  of  a  lake. 

*  The  Porcelain  Maiden,'  said  the  hare  to  the 
youth,  'will  come  here  to  bathe  with  her  friends, 
while  I  just  eat  a  mouthful  of  thyme  to  refresh 


THE   GOLDEN   BLACKBIRD  161 

me.  When  she  is  in  the  lake,  be  sure  you  hide 
her  clothes,  which  are  of  dazzling  whiteness, 
and  do  not  give  them  back  to  her  unless  she 
consents  to  follow  you.' 

The  little  hare  left  him,  and  almost  immedi- 
ately the  Porcelain  Maiden  arrived  with  her 
friends.  She  undressed  herself  and  got  into 
the  water.  Then  the  young  man  glided  up 
noiselessly  and  laid  hold  of  her  clothes,  which 
he  hid  under  a  rock  at  some  distance. 

When  the  Porcelain  Maiden  was  tired  of 
playing  in  the  water  she  came  out  to  dress 
herself,  but,  though  she  hunted  for  her  clothes 
high  and  low,  she  could  find  them  nowhere.  Her 
friends  helped  her  in  the  search,  but,  seeing 
at  last  that  it  was  of  no  use,  they  left  her,  alone 
on  the  bank,  weeping  bitterly. 

'Why  do  you  cry?'  said  the  young  man, 
approaching  her. 

'  Alas  1 '  answered  she,  *  while  I  was  bathing 
someone  stole  my  clothes,  and  my  friends  have 
abandoned  me.' 

*  I  will  find  your  clothes  if  you  will  only  come 
with  me.' 

And  the  Porcelain  Maiden  agreed  to  follow 


162  THE   GOLDEN   BLACKBIRD 

him,  and  after  having  given  up  her  clothes,  the 
young  man  bought  a  small  horse  for  her,  which 
went  like  the  wind.  The  little  hare  brought 
them  both  back  to  seek  for  the  Golden  Blackbird, 
and  when  they  drew  near  to  the  castle  where  it 
lived  the  little  hare  said  to  the  young  man : 

'Now,  do  be  a  little  sharper  than  you  were 
before,  and  you  will  manage  to  carry  off  both 
the  Golden  Blackbird  and  the  Porcelain  Maiden. 
Take  the  golden  cage  in  one  hand,  and  leave  the 
bird  in  the  old  cage  where  he  is,  and  bring  that 
away  too.' 

The  little  hare  then  vanished ;  the  youth  did 
as  he  was  bid,  and  the  castle  servants  never 
noticed  that  he  was  carrying  off  the  Golden 
Bird.  When  he  reached  the  inn  where  his 
brothers  were  detained,  he  delivered  them  by 
paying  their  debt.  They  set  out  all  together, 
but  as  the  two  elder  brothers  were  jealous  of 
the  success  of  the  youngest,  they  took  the 
opportunity  as  they  were  passing  by  the  shores 
of  a  lake  to  throw  themselves  upon  him,  seize 
the  Golden  Bird,  and  fling  him  in  the  water. 
Then  they  continued  their  journey,  taking  with 
them  the  Porcelain  Maiden,  in  the  firm  belief 


THE   GOLDEN  BLACKBIRD  163 

that  their  brother  was  drowned.  But,  happily, 
he  had  snatched  in  falling  at  a  turf  of  rushes 
and  called  loudly  for  help.  The  little  hare  came 
running  to  him,  and  said,  '  Take  hold  of  my  leg 
and  pull  yourself  out  of  the  water/ 


When  he  was  safe  on  shore  the  little  hare  said 
to  him: 

'  Now  this  is  what  you  have  to  do :  dress  your- 
self like  a  Breton  seeking  a  place  as  stable-boy, 
and  go  and  offer  your  services  to  your  father. 
Once  there,  you  will  easily  be  able  to  make  him 
understand  the  truth.' 


164  THE   GOLDEN   BLACKBIRD 

The  young  man  did  as  the  little  hare  bade 
him,  and  he  went  to  his  father's  castle  and 
inquired  if  they  were  not  in  want  of  a  stable-boy. 

'Yes,'  replied  his  father,  'very  much  indeed. 
But  it  is  not  an  easy  place.  There  is  a  little 
horse  hi  the  stable  which  will  not  let  anyone  go 
near  it,  and  it  has  already  kicked  to  death  several 
people  who  have  tried  to  groom  it.' 

'  I  will  undertake  to  groom  it,'  said  the  youth. 
*  I  never  saw  the  horse  I  was  afraid  of  yet'  The 
little  horse  allowed  itself  to  be  rubbed  down 
without  a  toss  of  its  head  and  without  a  kick. 

'  Good  gracious  ! '  exclaimed  the  master;  '  how 
is  it  that  he  lets  you  touch  him,  when  no  one  else 
can  go  near  him  ? ' 

'Perhaps  heknowsme,'answered  the  stable-boy. 

Two  or  three  days  later  the  master  said  to  him : 
'  The  Porcelain  Maiden  is  here :  but,  though  she 
is  as  lovely  as  the  dawn,  she  is  so  wicked  that  she 
scratches  everyone  that  approaches  her.  Try  if 
she  will  accept  your  services.' 

When  the  youth  entered  the  room  where  she 
was,  the  Golden  Blackbird  broke  forth  into  a 
joyful  song,  and  the  Porcelain  Maiden  sang  too, 
and  jumped  for  joy. 


THE   GOLDEN   BLACKBIRD  165 

'Good  gracious!'  cried  the  master.  The 
Porcelain  Maiden  and  the  Golden  Blackbird 
know  you  too  ? ' 

*  Yes,'  replied  the  youth,  '  and  the  Porcelain 
Maiden  can  tell  you  the  whole  truth,  if  she  only 
will.' 

Then  she  told  all  that  had  happened,  and  how 
she  had  consented  to  follow  the  young  man  who 
had  captured  the  Golden  Blackbird. 

'Yes,'  added  the  youth,  'I  delivered  my 
brothers,  who  were  kept  prisoners  in  an  inn,  and, 
as  a  reward,  they  threw  me  into  a  lake.  So  I 
disguised  myself  and  came  here,  in  order  to  prove 
the  truth  to  you.' 

So  the  old  lord  embraced  his  son,  and  promised 
that  he  should  inherit  all  his  possessions,  and  he 
put  to  death  the  two  elder  ones,  who  had 
deceived  him  and  had  tried  to  slay  their  own 
brother. 

The  young  man  married  the  Porcelain  Maiden, 
and  had  a  splendid  wedding  feast. 


THE    MASTER   CAT;  OR,  PUSS 
IN   BOOTS 

THERE  was  a  miller  who  left  no  more  estate  to 
the  three  sons  he  had  than  his  mill,  his  ass,  and 
his  cat.  The  partition  was  soon  made.  Neither 
the  scrivener  nor  attorney  was  sent  for.  They 
would  soon  have  eaten  up  all  the  poor  patrimony. 
The  eldest  had  the  mill,  the  second  the  ass,  and 
the  youngest  nothing  but  the  cat. 

The  poor  young  fellow  was  quite  comfortless 
at  having  so  poor  a  lot. 

*  My  brothers,'  said  he,  '  may  get  their  living 
handsomely  enough  by  joining  their  stocks 
together ;  but  for  my  part,  when  I  have  eaten 
up  my  cat,  and  made  me  a  muff  of  his  skin,  I 
must  die  of  hunger.' 

The  Cat,  who  heard  all  this,  but  made  as  if  he 
did  not,  said  to  him  with  a  grave  and  serious  air : 

'  Do  not  thus  afflict  yourself,  my  good  master ; 
you  have  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  give  me  a 

166 


THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS    167 

bag,  and  get  a  pair  of  boots  made  for  me,  that  1 
may  scamper  through  the  dirt  and  the  brambles, 
and  you  shall  see  that  you  have  not  so  bad  a 
portion  of  me  as  you  imagine.' 

The  Cat's  master  did  not  build  very  much 
upon  what  he  said  ;  he  had,  however,  often  seen 
him  play  a  great  many  cunning  tricks  to  catch 
rats  and  mice  ;  as  when  he  used  to  hang  by  the 
heels,  or  hide  himself  in  the  meal,  and  make  as 
if  he  were  dead ;  so  that  he  did  not  altogether 
despair  of  his  affording  him  some  help  in  his 
miserable  condition.  When  the  Cat  had  what 
he  asked  for,  he  booted  himself  very  gallantly, 
and,  putting  his  bag  about  his  neck,  he  held  the 
strings  of  it  in  his  two  fore-paws,  and  went 
into  a  warren  where  was  great  abundance  of 
rabbits.  He  put  bran  and  sow-thistles  into  his 
bag,  and,  stretching  out  at  length,  as  if  he  had 
been  dead,  he  waited  for  some  young  rabbits, 
not  yet  acquainted  with  the  deceits  of  the  world, 
to  come  and  rummage  his  bag  for  what  he  had 
put  into  it. 

Scarce  was  he  lain  down  but  he  had  what  he 
wanted  :  a  rash  and  foolish  young  rabbit  jumped 
into  his  bag,  and  Monsieur  Puss,  immediately 


168    THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS 

drawing  close  the  strings,  took  and  killed  him 
without  pity.  Proud  of  his  prey,  he  went  with 
it  to  the  palace,  and  asked  to  speak  with  his 
Majesty.  He  was  shown  upstairs  into  the  King's 


apartment,  and,  making  a  low  reverence,  said  to 
him: 

'I  have  brought  you,  sir,  a  rabbit  of  the 
warren,  which  my  noble  Lord  the  Marquis  of 
Carabas '  (for  that  was  the  title  which  Puss  was 


THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS    169 

pleaesd  to  give  his  master)  '  has  commanded  me 
to  present  to  your  Majesty  from  him.' 

*  Tell  thy  master,'  said  the  King,  '  that  I  thank 
him,  and  that  he  does  me  a  great  deal  of 
pleasure.' 

Another  time  he  went  and  hid  himself  among 
some  standing  corn,  holding  still  his  bag  open ; 
and,  when  a  brace  of  partridges  ran  into  it,  he 
drew  the  strings,  and  so  caught  them  both.  He 
went  and  made  a  present  of  these  to  the  King, 
as  he  had  done  before  of  the  rabbit  which  he 
took  in  the  warren.  The  King,  in  like  manner, 
received  the  partridges  with  great  pleasure,  and 
ordered  him  some  money,  and  drink. 

The  Cat  continued  for  two  or  three  months 
thus  to  carry  his  Majesty,  from  time  to  time, 
game  of  his  master's  taking.  One  day  in 
particular,  when  he  knew  for  certain  that  he  was 
to  take  the  air  along  the  river-side,  with  his 
daughter,  the  most  beautiful  princess  in  the 
world,  he  said  to  his  master : 

'  If  you  will  follow  my  advice  your  fortune  is 
made.  You  have  nothing  else  to  do  but  go  and 
wash  yourself  in  the  river,  in  that  part  I  shall 
show  you,  and  leave  the  rest  to  me.' 


170    THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS 

The  Marquis  of  Carabas  did  what  the  Cat 
advised  him  to,  without  knowing  why  or  where- 
fore. While  he  was  washing  the  King  passed 
by,  and  the  Cat  began  to  cry  out : 

*  Help  !  help  !  My  Lord  Marquis  of  Carabas 
is  going  to  be  drowned.' 

At  this  noise  the  King  put  his  head  out  of  the 
coach-window,  and,  finding  it  was  the  Cat  who 
had  so  often  brought  him  such  good  game, 
he  commanded  his  guards  to  run  immediately  to 
the  assistance  of  his  Lordship  the  Marquis 
of  Carabas.  While  they  were  drawing  the  poor 
Marquis  out  of  the  river,  the  Cat  came  up 
to  the  coach  and  told  the  King  that,  while 
his  master  was  washing,  there  came  by  some 
rogues,  who  went  off  with  his  clothes,  though 
he  had  cried  out :  '  Thieves !  thieves  ! '  several 
times,  as  loud  as  he  could. 

This  cunning  Cat  had  hidden  them  under 
a  great  stone.  The  King  immediately  com- 
manded the  officers  of  his  wardrobe  to  run  and 
fetch  one  of  his  best  suits  for  the  Lord  Marquis 
of  Carabas. 

The  King  caressed  him  after  a  very  extra- 
ordinary manner,  and  as  the  fine  clothes  he  had 


THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS    171 

given  him  extremely  set  off  his  good  mien  (for 
he  was  well  made  and  very  handsome  in  his 
person),  the  King's  daughter  took  a  secret 
inclination  to  him,  and  the  Marquis  of  Carabas 
had  no  sooner  cast  two  or  three  respectful  and 
somewhat  tender  glances  but  she  fell  in  love 
with  him  to  distraction.  The  King  would  needs 
have  him  come  into  the  coach  and  take  part  of 
the  airing.  The  Cat,  quite  overjoyed  to  see  his 
project  begin  to  succeed,  marched  on  before, 
and,  meeting  with  some  countrymen,  who  were 
mowing  a  meadow,  he  said  to  them : 

'Good  people,  you  who  are  mowing,  if  you 
do  not  tell  the  King  that  the  meadow  you  mow 
belongs  to  my  Lord  Marquis  of  Carabas,  you 
shall  be  chopped  as  small  as  herbs  for  the  pot.' 

The  King  did  not  fail  asking  of  the  mowers 
to  whom  the  meadow  they  were  mowing  be- 
longed. 

'  To  my  Lord  Marquis  of  Carabas,'  answered 
they  all  together,  for  the  Cat's  threats  had  made 
them  terribly  afraid. 

'You  see,  sir,'  said  the  Marquis,  'this  is  a 
meadow  which  never  fails  to  yield  a  plentiful 
harvest  every  year.' 


172    THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS 

The  Master  Cat,  who  went  still  on  before,  met 
with  some  reapers,  and  said  to  them : 

'  Good  people,  you  who  are  reaping,  if  you  do 
not  tell  the  King  that  all  this  corn  belongs  to 
the  Marquis  of  Carabas,  you  shall  be  chopped 
as  small  as  herbs  for  the  pot.' 


The  King,  who  passed  by  a  moment  after, 
would  needs  know  to  whom  all  that  corn,  which 
he  then  saw,  did  belong. 

*To  my  Lord  Marquis  of  Carabas,'  replied 
the  reapers,  and  the  King  was  very  well  pleased 
with  it,  as  well  as  the  Marquis,  whom  he  con- 
gratulated thereupon.  The  Master  Cat,  who 


THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS    178 

went  always  before,  said  the  same  words  to  all 
he  met,  and  the  King  was  astonished  at  the  vast 
estates  of  my  Lord  Marquis  of  Carabas. 

Monsieur  Puss  came  at  last  to  a  stately  castle, 
the  master  of  which  was  an  ogre,  the  richest  had 
ever  been  known ;  for  all  the  lands  which  the 
King  had  then  gone  over  belonged  to  this  castle. 
The  Cat,  who  had  taken  care  to  inform  himself 
who  this  ogre  was  and  what  he  could  do,  asked 
to  speak  with  him,  saying  he  could  not  pass 
so  near  his  castle  without  having  the  honour 
of  paying  his  respects  to  him. 

The  ogre  received  him  as  civilly  as  an  ogre 
could  do,  and  made  him  sit  down. 

'  I  have  been  assured,'  said  the  Cat,  *  that  you 
have  the  gift  of  being  able  to  change  yourself 
into  all  sorts  of  creatures  you  have  a  mind  to; 
you  can,  for  example,  transform  yourself  into  a 
lion,  or  elephant,  and  the  like.' 

'  That  is  true,'  answered  the  ogre  very  briskly; 
'and  to  convince  you,  you  shall  see  me  now 
become  a  lion.' 

Puss  was  so  sadly  terrified  at  the  sight  of  a 
lion  so  near  him  that  he  immediately  got  into 
the  gutter,  not  without  abundance  of  trouble 


174    THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS 

and  danger,  because  of  his  boots,  which  were  of 
no  use  at  all  to  him  in  walking  upon  the  tiles. 
A  little  while  after,  when  Puss  saw  that  the  ogre 
had  resumed  his  natural  form,  he  came  down, 
and  owned  he  had  been  very  much  frightened. 


'  1  have  been  moreover  informed,'  said  the  Cat, 
'  but  I  know  not  how  to  believe  it,  that  you  have 
also  the  power  to  take  on  you  the  shape  of  the 
smallest  animals;  for  example,  to  change  yourself 
into  a  rat  or  a  mouse;  but  I  must  own  to  you  I 
take  this  to  be  impossible.' 


THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS     175 

'  Impossible  ! '  cried  the  ogre ;  *  you  shall  see 
that  presently.' 

And  at  the  same  time  he  changed  himself  into 
a  mouse,  and  began  to  run  about  the  floor.  Puss 
no  sooner  perceived  this  but  he  fell  upon  him 
and  ate  him  up. 

Meanwhile  the  King,  who  saw,  as  he  passed, 
this  fine  castle  of  the  ogre's,  had  a  mind  to  go 
into  it.  Puss,  who  heard  the  noise  of  his 
Majesty's  coach  running  over  the  draw-bridge, 
ran  out,  and  said  to  the  King: 

'  Your  Majesty  is  welcome  to  this  castle  of  my 
Lord  Marquis  of  Carabas.' 

*  What !  my  Lord  Marquis,'  cried  the  King, 
'  and  does  this  castle  also  belong  to  you  ?  There 
can  be  nothing  finer  than  this  court  and  all  the 
stately  buildings  which  surround  it;  let  us  go 
into  it,  if  you  please.' 

The  Marquis  gave  his  hand  to  the  Princess, 
and  followed  the  King,  who  went  first.  They 
passed  into  a  spacious  hall,  where  they  found  a 
magnificent  collation,  which  the  ogre  had  pre- 
pared for  his  friends,  who  were  that  very  day  to 
visit  him,  but  dared  not  to  enter,  knowing  the 
King  was  there.  His  Majesty  was  perfectly 
charmed  with  the  good  qualities  of  my  Lord 


176    THE  MASTER  CAT;  OR,  PUSS  IN  BOOTS 

Marquis  of  Carabas,  as  was  his  daughter,  who 
had  fallen  violently  in  love  with  him,  and,  seeing 
the  vast  estate  he  possessed,  said  to  him,  after 
having  drunk  five  or  six  glasses: 

*  It  will  be  owing  to  yourself  only,  my  Lord 
Marquis,  if  you  are  not  my  son-in-law.' 


The  Marquis,  making  several  low  bows, 
accepted  the  honour  which  his  Majesty  con- 
ferred upon  him,  and  forthwith,  that  very  same 
day,  married  the  Princess. 

Puss  became  a  great  lord,  and  never  ran  after 
mice  any  more  but  only  for  his  diversion. 


THE   MAGIC   SWAN 

THERE  were  once  upon  a  time  three  brothers, 
of  whom  the  eldest  was  called  Jacob,  the 
second  Frederick,  and  the  youngest  Peter.  This 
youngest  brother  was  made  a  regular  butt  of 
by  the  other  two,  and  they  treated  him  shame- 
fully. If  anything  went  wrong  with  their 
affairs,  Peter  had  to  bear  the  blame  and  put 
things  right  for  them,  and  he  had  to  endure  all 
this  ill-treatment  because  he  was  weak  and 
delicate  and  couldn't  defend  himself  against  his 
stronger  brothers.  The  poor  creature  had  a 
most  trying  life  of  it  in  every  way,  and  day  and 
night  he  pondered  how  he  could  make  it  better. 
One  day,  when  he  was  in  the  wood  gathering 
sticks  and  crying  bitterly,  a  little  old  woman 
came  up  to  him  and  asked  him  what  was  the 
matter ;  and  he  told  her  all  his  troubles. 

'Come,  my  good  youth,'  said  the  old  dame, 
when  he  had  finished  his  tale  of  woe,  *  isn't  the 

177 


178  THE   MAGIC   SWAN 

world  wide  enough  ?  Why  don't  you  set  out 
and  try  your  fortune  somewhere  else?' 

Peter  took  her  words  to  heart,  and  left  his 
father's  house  early  one  morning  to  try  his 
fortune  in  the  wide  world,  as  the  old  woman 
had  advised  him.  But  he  felt  very  bitterly 
parting  from  the  home  where  he  had  been  born, 
and  where  he  had  at  least  passed  a  short  but 
happy  childhood,  and  sitting  down  on  a  hill  he 
gazed  once  more  fondly  on  his  native  place. 

Suddenly  the  little  old  woman  stood  before 
him,  and,  tapping  him  on  the  shoulder,  said, 
1  So  far  good,  my  boy ;  but  what  do  you  mean 
to  do  now  ? ' 

Peter  was  at  a  loss  what  to  answer,  for  so  far 
he  had  always  thought  that  fortune  would  drop 
into  his  mouth  like  a  ripe  cherry.  The  old 
woman,  who  guessed  his  thoughts,  laughed 
kindly  and  said,  'I'll  tell  you  what  you  must 
do,  for  I've  taken  a  fancy  to  you,  and  I'm  sure 
you  won't  forget  me  when  you've  made  your 
fortune.' 

Peter  promised  faithfully  he  wouldn't  and 
the  old  woman  continued: 

'This  evening  at  sunset  go   to  yonder  pear 


THE   MAGIC  SWAN  179 

tree  which  you  see  growing  at  the  cross  roads. 
Underneath  it  you  will  find  a  man  lying  asleep, 
and  a  beautiful  large  swan  will  be  fastened  to 
the  tree  close  to  him.  You  must  be  careful  not 
to  waken  the  man,  but  you  must  unfasten  the 
swan  and  take  it  away  with  you.  You  will  find 
that  everyone  will  fall  in  love  with  its  beautiful 
plumage,  and  you  must  allow  anyone  who  likes 
to  pull  out  a  feather.  But  as  soon  as  the  swan 
feels  as  much  as  a  finger  on  it,  it  will  scream 
out,  and  then  you  must  say,  "  Swan,  hold  fast." 
Then  the  hand  of  the  person  who  has  touched 
the  bird  will  be  held  as  in  a  vice,  and  nothing 
will  set  it  free,  unless  you  touch  it  with  this 
little  stick  which  I  will  make  you  a  present  of. 
When  you  have  captured  a  whole  lot  of  people 
in  this  way,  lead  your  train  straight  on  with 
you ;  you  will  come  to  a  big  town  where  a 
Princess  lives  who  has  never  been  known  to 
laugh.  If  you  can  only  make  her  laugh  your 
fortune  is  made ;  then  1  beg  you  won't  forget 
your  old  friend.' 

Peter  promised  again  that  he  wouldn't,  and 
at  sunset  he  went  to  the  tree  the  old  woman 
had  mentioned.  The  man  lay  there  fast  asleep, 


180  THE   MAGIC  SWAN 

and  a  large  beautiful  swan  was  fastened  to  the 
tree  beside  him  by  a  red  cord.  Peter  loosed 
the  bird,  and  led  it  away  with  him  without  dis- 
turbing the  bird's  master. 

He  walked  on  with  the  swan  for  some  time, 
and  came  at  last  to  a  building-yard  where  some 
men  were  busily  at  work.  They  were  all  lost 
in  admiration  of  the  bird's  beautiful  plumage, 
and  one  forward  youth,  who  was  covered  with 
clay  from  head  to  foot,  called  out,  'Oh,  if  I'd 
only  one  of  those  feathers  how  happy  I  should  be ! ' 

'Pull  one  out,  then,'  said  Peter  kindly,  and 
the  youth  seized  one  from  the  bird's  tail ;  in- 
stantly the  swan  screamed,  and  Peter  called 
out,  *  Swan,  hold  fast,'  and  do  what  he  could 
the  poor  youth  couldn't  get  his  hand  away. 
The  more  he  howled  the  more  the  others 
laughed,  till  a  girl  who  had  been  washing 
clothes  in  the  neighbouring  stream  hurried  up 
to  see  what  was  the  matter.  When  she  saw  the 
poor  boy  fastened  to  the  swan  she  felt  so  sorry 
for  him  that  she  stretched  out  her  hand  to  free 
him.  The  bird  screamed. 

*  Swan,  hold  fast,'  called  out  Peter,  and  the 
girl  was  caught  also. 


THE  MAGIC  SWAN  181 

When  Peter  had  gone  on  for  a  bit  with  his 
captives,  they  met  a  chimney  sweep,  who 
laughed  loudly  over  the  extraordinary  troop, 
and  asked  the  girl  what  she  was  doing. 

'  Oh,  dearest  John,'  replied  the  girl,  '  give  me 
your  hand  and  set  me  free  from  this  cursed 
young  man.' 

'  Most  certainly  I  will,  if  that's  all  you  want,' 
replied  the  sweep,  and  gave  the  girl  his  hand. 
The  bird  screamed. 

'  Swan,  hold  fast,'  said  Peter,  and  the  black 
man  was  added  to  their  number. 

They  soon  came  to  a  village  where  a  fair  was 
being  held.  A  travelling  circus  was  giving  a 
performance,  and  the  clown  was  just  doing  his 
tricks.  He  opened  his  eyes  wide  with  amaze- 
ment when  he  saw  the  remarkable  trio  fastened 
on  to  the  swan's  tail. 

'Have  you  gone  raving  mad,  Blackie?'  he 
asked  as  well  as  he  could  for  laughing. 

'  It's  no  laughing  matter,'  the  sweep  replied. 
*  This  wench  has  got  so  tight  hold  of  me  that  I 
feel  as  if  I  were  glued  to  her.  Do  set  me  free, 
like  a  good  clown,  and  I'll  do  you  a  good  turn 
some  day.' 

P.O.— N 


182  THE   MAGIC  SWAN 

Without  a  moment's  hesitation  the  clown 
grasped  the  black  outstretched  hand.  The  bird 
screamed. 

'Swan,  hold  fast,'  called  out  Peter,  and  the 
clown  became  the  fourth  of  the  party. 

Now  in  the  front  row  of  the  spectators  sat  the 
respected  and  popular  Mayor  of  the  village,  who 
was  much  put  out  by  what  he  considered  nothing 
but  a  foolish  trick.  So  much  annoyed  was  he 
that  he  seized  the  clown  by  the  hand  and  tried 
to  tear  him  away,  in  order  to  hand  him  over  to 
the  police. 

Then  the  bird  screamed,  and  Peter  called  out, 
'  Swan,  hold  fast,'  and  the  dignified  Mayor  shared 
the  fate  of  his  predecessors. 

The  Mayoress,  a  long  thin  stick  of  a  woman, 
enraged  at  the  insult  done  to  her  husband,  seized 
his  free  arm  and  tore  at  it  with  all  her  might, 
with  the  only  result  that  she  too  was  forced  to 
swell  the  procession.  After  this  no  one  else  had 
any  wish  to  join  them. 

Soon  Peter  saw  the  towers  of  the  capital  in 
front  of  him.  Just  before  entering  it,  a  glitter- 
ing carriage  came  out  to  meet  him,  in  which  was 
seated  a  young  lady  as  beautiful  as  the  day,  but 


THE   MAGIC  SWAN  183 

with  a  very  solemn  and  serious  expression.  But 
no  sooner  had  she  perceived  the  motley  crowd 
fastened  to  the  swan's  tail  than  she  burst  into  a 
loud  fit  of  laughter,  in  which  she  was  joined  by 
all  her  servants  and  ladies  in  waiting. 

'The  Princess  has  laughed  at  last,'  they  all 
cried  with  joy. 


She  stepped  out  of  her  carriage  to  look  more 
closely  at  the  wonderful  sight,  and  laughed  again 
over  the  capers  the  poor  captives  cut.  She 
ordered  her  carriage  to  be  turned  round  and 
drove  slowly  back  into  the  town,  never  taking 
her  eyes  off  Peter  and  his  procession. 

When  the  King  heard  the  news  that  his 
daughter  had  actually  laughed,  he  was  more 


184  THE   MAGIC  SWAN 

than  delighted,  and  had  Peter  and  his  marvellous 
train  brought  before  him.  He  laughed  himself 
when  he  saw  them  till  the  tears  rolled  down  his 
cheeks. 

'My  good  friend,'  he  said  to  Peter,  *do 
you  know  what  1  promised  the  person  who 
succeeded  in  making  the  Princess  laugh  ? ' 

'  No,  I  don't,'  said  Peter. 

'  Then  I'll  tell  you,'  answered  the  King ;  *  a 
thousand  gold  crowns  or  a  piece  of  land.  Which 
will  you  choose  ? ' 

Peter  decided  in  favour  of  the  land.  Then 
he  touched  the  youth,  the  girl,  the  sweep,  the 
clown,  the  Mayor,  and  the  Mayoress  with  his 
little  stick,  and  they  were  all  free  again,  and  ran 
away  home  as  if  a  fire  were  burning  behind  them ; 
and  their  flight,  as  you  may  imagine,  gave  rise 
to  renewed  merriment. 

Then  the  Princess  felt  moved  to  stroke  the 
swan,  at  the  same  time  admiring  its  plumage. 
The  bird  screamed. 

'  Swan,  hold  fast,'  called  out  Peter,  and  so  he 
won  the  Princess  for  his  bride.  But  the  swan 
flew  up  into  the  air,  and  vanished  in  the  blue 
horizon.  Peter  now  received  a  duchy  as  a 


THE   MAGIC   SWAN  185 

present,  and  became  a  very  great  man  indeed ; 
but  he  did  not  forget  the  little  old  woman  who 
had  been  the  cause  of  all  his  good  fortune,  and 
appointed  her  as  head  housekeeper  to  him  and 
his  royal  bride  in  their  magnificent  castle. 


THE   DIRTY   SHEPHERDESS 

ONCE  upon  a  time  there  lived  a  King  who  had 
two  daughters,  and  he  loved  them  with  all  his 
heart.  When  they  grew  up,  he  was  suddenly 
seized  with  a  wish  to  know  if  they,  on  their  part, 
truly  loved  him,  and  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
he  would  give  his  kingdom  to  whichever  best 
proved  her  devotion. 

So  he  called  the  elder  Princess  and  said  to  her, 
*  How  much  do  you  love  me  ? ' 

*  As  the  apple  of  my  eye ! '  answered  she. 

'Ah!'  exclaimed  the  King,  kissing  her  ten- 
derly as  he  spoke,  'you  are  indeed  a  good 
daughter.' 

Then  he  sent  for  the  younger,  and  asked  her 
how  much  she  loved  him. 

'  I  look  upon  you,  my  father,'  she  answered, 
'as  I  look  upon  salt  in  my  food.' 

But  the  King  did  not  like  her  words,  and 

186 


THE  DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS  187 

ordered  her  to  quit  the  Court,  and  never  again 
to  appear  before  him.  The  poor  Princess  went 
sadly  up  to  her  room  and  began  to  cry,  but  when 
she  was  reminded  of  her  father's  commands,  she 
dried  her  eyes,  and  made  a  bundle  of  her  jewels 
and  her  best  dresses  and  hurriedly  left  the  castle 
where  she  was  born. 

She  walked  straight  along  the  road  in  front  of 
her,  without  knowing  very  well  where  she  was 
going  or  what  was  to  become  of  her,  for  she  had 
never  been  shown  how  to  work,  and  all  she  had 
learnt  consisted  of  a  few  household  rules,  and 
recipes  of  dishes  which  her  mother  taught  her 
long  ago.  And  as  she  was  afraid  that  no  house- 
wife would  want  to  engage  a  girl  with  such  a 
pretty  face,  she  determined  to  make  herself  as 
ugly  as  she  could. 

She  therefore  took  off  the  dress  that  she  was 
wearing  and  put  on  some  horrible  old  rags  be- 
longing to  a  beggar,  all  torn  and  covered  with 
mud.  After  that  she  smeared  mud  all  over  her 
hands  and  face,  and  shook  her  hair  into  a  great 
tangle.  Having  thus  changed  her  appearance, 
she  went  about  offering  herself  as  a  goose-girl 
or  shepherdess.  But  the  farmers'  wives  would 


188  THE  DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS 

have  nothing  to  say  to  such  a  dirty  maiden,  and 
sent  her  away  with  a  morsel  of  bread  for  charity's 
sake. 

After  walking  for  a  great  many  days  without 
being  able  to  find  any  work,  she  came  to  a  large 
farm  where  they  were  in  want  of  a  shepherdess, 
and  engaged  her  gladly. 

One  day  when  she  was  keeping  her  sheep  in 
a  lonely  tract  of  land,  she  suddenly  felt  a  wish 
to  dress  herself  in  her  robes  of  splendour.  She 
washed  herself  carefully  in  the  stream,  and  as 
she  always  carried  her  bundle  with  her,  it  was 
easy  to  shake  off  her  rags,  and  transform  herself 
in  a  few  moments  into  a  great  lady. 

The  King's  son,  who  had  lost  his  way  out 
hunting,  perceived  this  lovely  damsel  a  long  way 
off,  and  wished  to  look  at  her  closer.  But  as 
soon  as  the  girl  saw  what  he  was  at,  she  fled  into 
the  wood  as  swiftly  as  a  bird.  The  Prince  ran 
after  her,  but  as  he  was  running  he  caught 
his  foot  in  the  root  of  a  tree  and  fell,  and 
when  he  got  up  again,  she  was  nowhere  to  be 
seen. 

When  she  was  quite  safe,  she  put  on  her  rags 
again,  and  smeared  over  her  face  and  hands. 


THE  DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS  191 

However,  the  young  Prince,  who  was  both  hot 
and  thirsty,  found  his  way  to  the  farm,  to  ask  for 
a  drink  of  cider,  and  he  inquired  the  name  of  the 
beautiful  lady  that  kept  the  sheep.  At  this 
everyone  began  to  laugh,  for  they  said  that  the 
shepherdess  was  one  of  the  ugliest  and  dirtiest 
creatures  under  the  sun. 

The  Prince  thought  some  witchcraft  must  be 
at  work,  and  he  hastened  away  before  the  return 
of  the  shepherdess,  who  became  that  evening  the 
butt  of  everybody's  jests. 

But  the  King's  son  thought  often  of  the  lovely 
maiden  whom  he  had  only  seen  for  a  moment, 
though  she  seemed  to  him  much  more  fascinating 
than  any  lady  of  the  Court.  At  last  he  dreamed 
of  nothing  else,  and  grew  thinner  day  by  day  till 
his  parents  inquired  what  was  the  matter,  promis- 
ing to  do  all  they  could  to  make  him  as  happy 
as  he  once  was.  He  dared  not  to  tell  them  the 
truth,  lest  they  should  laugh  at  him,  so  he  only 
said  that  he  should  like  some  bread  baked  by  the 
kitchen  girl  in  the  distant  farm. 

Although  the  wish  appeared  rather  odd,  they 
hastened  to  fulfil  it,  and  the  farmer  was  told  the 
request  of  the  King's  son.  The  maiden  showed 


192  THE  DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS 

no  surprise  at  receiving  such  an  order,  but  merely 
asked  for  some  flour,  salt,  and  water,  and  also 
that  she  might  be  left  alone  in  a  little  room 
adjoining  the  oven,  where  the  kneading-trough 
stood.  Before  beginning  her  work  she  washed 
herself  carefully,  and  even  put  on  her  rings  ;  but, 
while  she  was  baking,  one  of  her  rings  slid  into 
the  dough.  When  she  had  finished  she  dirtied 
herself  again,  and  let  lumps  of  the  dough  stick 
to  her  fingers,  so  that  she  became  as  ugly  as 
before. 

The  loaf,  which  was  a  very  little  one,  was 
brought  to  the  King's  son,  who  ate  it  with 
pleasure.  But  in  cutting  it  he  found  the  ring  of 
the  Princess,  and  declared  to  his  parents  that 
he  would  marry  the  girl  whom  that  ring 
fitted. 

So  the  King  made  a  proclamation  through  his 
whole  kingdom,  and  ladies  came  from  afar  to  lay 
claim  to  the  honour.  But  the  ring  was  so  tiny 
that  even  those  who  had  the  smallest  hands  could 
only  get  it  on  their  little  fingers.  In  a  short 
time  all  the  maidens  of  the  kingdom,  including 
the  peasant  girls,  had  tried  on  the  ring,  and  the 
King  was  just  about  to  announce  that  their 


THE  DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS  193 

efforts  had  been  in  vain,  when  the  Prince 
observed  that  he  had  not  yet  seen  the  shep- 
herdess. 

They  sent  to  fetch  her,  and  she  arrived  covered 
with  rags,  but  with  her  hands  cleaner  than  usual, 
so  that  she  could  easily  slip  on  the  ring.  The 
King's  son  declared  that  he  would  fulfil  his  pro- 
mise, and  when  his  parents  mildly  remarked  that 
the  girl  was  only  a  keeper  of  sheep,  and  a  very 
ugly  one  too,  the  maiden  boldly  said  that  she 
was  born  a  princess,  and  that,  if  they  would  only 
give  her  some  water  and  leave  her  alone  in  a 
room  for  a  few  minutes,  she  would  show  that 
she  could  look  as  well  as  anyone  in  fine 
clothes. 

They  did  what  she  asked,  and  when  she  entered 
in  a  magnificent  dress,  she  looked  so  beautiful 
that  all  saw  she  must  be  a  princess  in  disguise. 
The  King's  son  recognised  the  charming  damsel 
of  whom  he  had  once  caught  a  glimpse,  and, 
flinging  himself  at  her  feet,  asked  if  she  would 
marry  him.  The  Princess  then  told  her  story, 
and  said  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  send  an 
ambassador  to  her  father  to  ask  his  consent  and 
to  invite  him  to  the  wedding. 


194  THE  DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS 

The  Princess's  father,  who  had  never  ceased  to 
repent  his  harshness  towards  his  daughter,  had 
sought  her  through  the  land,  but  as  no  one  could 
tell  him  anything  of  her,  he  supposed  her  dead. 
Therefore  it  was  with  great  joy  he  heard  that 
she  was  living  and  that  a  king's  son  asked  her  in 
marriage,  and  he  quitted  his  kingdom  with  his 
elder  daughter  so  as  to  be  present  at  the  cere- 
mony. 

By  the  orders  of  the  bride,  they  only  served 
her  father  at  the  wedding  breakfast  bread  with- 
out salt,  and  meat  without  seasoning.  Seeing 
him  make  faces,  and  eat  very  little,  his  daughter, 
who  sat  beside  him,  inquired  if  his  dinner  was 
not  to  his  taste. 

'No,'  he  replied,  'the  dishes  are  carefully 
cooked  and  sent  up,  but  they  are  all  so  dreadfully 
tasteless.' 

'  Did  not  1  tell  you,  my  father,  that  salt  was 
the  best  thing  in  life  ?  And  yet,  when  I  com- 
pared you  to  salt,  to  show  how  much  I  loved 
you,  you  thought  slightingly  of  me  and  you 
chased  me  from  your  presence.' 

The  King  embraced  his  daughter,  and  allowed 
that  he  had  been  wrong  to  misinterpret  her 


THE   DIRTY  SHEPHERDESS  195 

words.  Then,  for  the  rest  of  the  wedding  feast, 
they  gave  him  bread  made  with  salt,  and  dishes 
with  seasoning,  and  he  said  they  were  the  very 
best  he  had  ever  eaten, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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